Erika McCarthy was sentenced on two counts in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday per the terms of a plea agreement negotiated between her attorney, Richard Ballard, and the State of Indiana.
McCarthy admitted to Judge Kim Hall that she was in possession of a syringe when officers searched a vehicle she was in during a traffic stop north of Knox on Nov. 6, 2018. She said she intended to use the syringe to inject a controlled substance.
She also admitted that while on pre-trial release through Starke County Community Corrections, she allowed her electronic monitoring device to shut down and failed to notify officials of the issue or tell them of her whereabouts. She then left the area to go to Lafayette. Community Corrections did not know where she was from Feb. 24 to March 5 of this year.
Judge Hall accepted the plea agreement where McCarthy pleaded guilty to a Level 6 Felony charge of unlawful possession of a syringe. She was sentenced to 12 months in the Starke County Justice Center with none of the sentence suspended. She also pleaded guilty to a Level 6 Felony charge of escape. She was sentenced to 15 months in the Starke County Justice Center with all of that sentence suspended to be served on probation.
She will also need to participate in any programs deemed necessary by Starke County Community Corrections.
The sentences will be served consecutively to each other and consecutively to other sentences in pending cases.
With good time credit, she will serve only a few more months on these sentences.
