Michael Sallee, 56, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the State in Starke Circuit Court to a charge of possession of methamphetamine as a Level 3 Felony.
Sallee admitted that he was pulled over in a traffic stop March 24, 2024 where police conducted a search of the vehicle and found that he was in possession of 28 grams of methamphetamine. As a condition of his bond, we was placed on pre-trial release on home detention.
Sallee’s defense attorney, Blair Todd, told Starke County Magistrate Micah Cox that Sallee has followed all of the terms of his pre-trial release and has no violations.
Starke County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Poulos said that the pre-sentence investigation found that Sallee has a low risk to re-offend as he has one prior conviction in the 1990s. While the amount of drugs found in the vehicle was a concern in the State’s perspective and that rifles were in the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop, this was a non-violent crime.
Attorney Todd recommnded that Magistrate Cox accept the plea agreement as submitted and asked that the sentence be served on home detention.
Sallee was given the opportunity to speak where he told Magistrate Cox that he is following all of his pre-trial release requirements and that he is clean and sober and on the right track.
Magistrate Cox noted that Sallee does have the support of his family and has been successful in his pre-trial release. He accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Sallee per the terms of the agreement that includes a seven-year sentence on the Level 3 Felony count and he will serve that sentence on home detention for four years and three years on probation. He was ordered to pay court costs and a $250 drug interdiction fee. The sentence can be modified at any time. Felony counts of dealing in methamphetamine and possession of narcotic drug, and misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia were dismissed.
