Towell sentenced to eight additional years in prison on drug charges

Both sentences were handed down in connection with methamphetamine-related crimes.

The sentence of eight years came after the court accepted a negotiated plea agreement in a case in which five counts were dismissed and Towell pled guilty to one count of possession of chemical reagents or precursors with intent to manufacture within 1000 feet of a family housing complex, a class C felony.

In the pronouncement of the sentence, Superior Court Judge David Holt specified that the sentences are to be served consecutively. Towell will not start serving the eight years until after he's served the 15 years.

In both cases, none of the years were suspended and the sentences did not include any term of probation or work-release -- the time is to be served in the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC).

Towell was on probation for two prior felonies when he committed the current crimes last spring.

On April 3 when Linton police officers went to Towell's residence to serve a warrant on him in connection with a revocation of his probation -- what they found led to unexpected charges connected with the manufacture of methamphetamine at his home.

When officers arrived, they were told Towell was not at home. Officers said they believed he had been there but had gotten away by exiting through a back bedroom window. When others in the home gave consent to search, the officers were confronted with an overwhelming odor of ammonia, noticed a working security camera with audio/visual capabilities focusing on the front of the residence, and a glass smoking pipe. They obtained a search warrant for the residence and a garage which resulted in the finding of multiple pre-cursors used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Yet another warrant was then issued for Towell's arrest but he managed to elude police until May 16.

At that time, LPD investigators were in the process of investigating another methamphetamine operation at another residence. When a controlled delivery was made with help from a confidential informant, Towell happened to be there and was taken into custody.

As a result of the methamphetamine-related activities going on in the second residence, another case was filed against Towell with still more drug charges.

The case involving the charges from the second residence, where Towell was taken into custody, went to trial in July and resulted in the 15-year sentence.

The case involving the charges from the first residence ended with the plea agreement and the eight-year sentence.

On July 31, a 12-member jury found Towell guilty of conspiracy to commit dealing in methamphetamine, a class B felony, and possession of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, a class C felony. Because the second count may have been one of the overt acts the jury considered in finding Towell guilty of the first, the second count was merged into the first.

The three-day trial also made news when two persons were arrested for allegedly intimidating a state's witness during the evening hours of the first day.

In both cases, Holt found the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances.The mitigating circumstances in both included Towell's poor childhood and his father committing suicide; abuse suffered during his early years by his mother's boyfriends; and between 1995 and 2000, his admittance to psychiatric facilities and his being diagnosed with pyromania, psychosis, ADHD, polysubstance abuse, oppositional defiance disorder, intermittent explosive disorder and a socialized conduct disorder.

The aggravating circumstances included a history of criminal activity -- he has either been adjudicated a delinquent or convicted as an adult of: Resisting law enforcement as a juvenile in 2002; a class C felony burglary in 2005; a class C felony burglary in 2006; and he violated probation on one of those felonies.