By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A Warsaw man has received a three-year local sentence for charges in two drug-related cases.

Jason L. Busz, 41, 316 S. Union St., Warsaw, was sentenced for possession of methamphetamine, a Level 5 felony, in one case; and failure to appear, a Level 6 felony, in another case on Monday, March 21, in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Jason L. Busz

Four additional charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Regarding the first case, officers taking part in a warrant blitz went to 316 S. Union St., Warsaw, to serve a warrant on Busz for theft. A person there directed officers to Busz’s bedroom, but he wasn’t there.

In the home, officers found in plain view a smoking pipe with white residue and hypodermic syringes lying around a room.

An officer obtained a search warrant for the home, and in one bedroom, police found 23 needles and a bag containing methamphetamine.

In Busz’s bedroom, officers found more than 100 used needles, a clear glass smoking device with white residue, a black digital scale with residue, a glass smoking device with burnt plant material and two rubber smoking devices with burnt plant material inside.

They also found a bag containing 1.1 grams of methamphetamine, a black digital scale with white residue, two other bags with white residue, a small silver digital scale with white residue, two plastic straws with white residue and a plastic plant grinder with green plant residue.

Police also found graffiti with derogatory comments about the area NET43 Drug Task Force.

In the second case, an officer on bicycle patrol saw Busz, who had an active arrest warrant, sitting on the steps of a home.

Officers arrested Busz due to the active warrant. Busz said he had methamphetamine on him.

Police searched him and found a bag containing 1.1 grams of methamphetamine. Busz said he had just received it.

On Monday, March 21, Defense Attorney Travis Neff asked Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed if Busz could serve his time through Kosciusko County Work Release, with a possible modification to his sentence later on for him to go on home detention through Serenity House, a local residential recovery treatment center.

Reed opted to grant that request.

He sentenced Busz to two years in the Kosciusko County Jail for the first case and one year in KCJ for the second one. The cases will run consecutively.

Reed said Busz could serve his time through work release and said he might modify his sentence later to being served through home detention at Serenity House.