Plea filed in meth case
A plea agreement has been filed for a Cloverdale man charged with Class A felony dealing in methamphetamine and Class C felony possession of methamphetamine over 3 grams.
A final pretrial conference for Michael L. Kolesar, 26, was held Thursday with Putnam County Senior Judge Diana LaViolette and Kolesar's attorney James Recker. Kolesar will be in court on Jan. 15 for a change of plea hearing. LaViolette also ordered that a pre-sentence investigation be conducted and a report on that investigation be filed before the hearing.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Kolesar would plead guilty to the Class C felony and the dealing charge would be dropped. A Class C felony is punishable by up to eight years in prison.
Kolesar, of Cloverdale, was arrested July 11 after a traffic stop that produced more than 20 grams of meth. Kolesar was driving the vehicle, which belonged to Nancy A. Tarpley, 51, of Indianapolis.
Police found several baggies of crystal meth and assorted paraphernalia in the vehicle, court records said. A baggie of meth containing 3.4 grams of the drug was also located in Kolesar's front pants pocket.
Tarpley and Kolesar were both transported to the Putnam County Jail. On her way there, Tarpley said nearly $5,000 cash found on her person was to be used for buying and selling meth, and that she knew it was in the car, but that it belonged to Kolesar.
Kolesar has been in the Putnam County Jail since his arrest. His bond was set at $40,000 cash, and a bond reduction was denied on July 31.
On Dec. 4, Tarpley was convicted of Class C felony possession of methamphetamine over 3 grams and was sentenced to six years in prison with three executed and three suspended.
Kolesar's criminal past in Putnam County includes a 2002 conviction for felony theft and a litany of traffic violations.