WARSAW — A Leesburg woman who recently finished a jail-based addiction treatment program received the help too late to avoid a prison sentence, according to Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed.

Kacynda Ione Northrup

Kacynda Ione Northrup, 30, 4839 North CR 700E, Leesburg, pleaded guilty in January to violating probation in two separate cases and to dealing heroin, a level 5 felony. The charge was upgraded during a plea agreement from a level four felony and Northrup appeared in Circuit Court on Monday, March 4, for sentencing.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, officers from the Warsaw Police Department received word that Northrup was scheduled to obtain heroin in South Bend and bring the drug back to Kosciusko County to sell.

Northrup was one of three people arrested when police intervened in a drug sale at the Etna Green Marathon Station on US 30 on June 18, 2018.

Officers approached the vehicle used by Northrup and another man in their trip to South Bend and immediately arrested them and a third person who arrived in another vehicle with intentions to buy the heroin.

Both men, according to police, had outstanding arrest warrants.

Police reported that Northrup produced a syringe, as well as a bag that had a gray, rocklike substance that tested positive as heroin after a K9 officer indicted the scent of drugs coming from inside the vehicle. The report added that jail officers found more heroin in her possession after she was taken to jail.

Northrup was one of seven women who recently graduated from the Jail Chemical Addiction Program in the Kosciusko County Jail. She was tearful as she told Reed about progress she’d made over the past half year behind bars.

“I have a relationship with God now,” she said. “I’ve been through these programs before, but this time I pray it’s different. I have a recovery coach for when I get out to help keep me accountable. I just want to be a success story for the people coming into JCAP.”

Prosecutor Dan Hampton agreed with Northrup’s statement about having attended recovery programs in the past. He mentioned in court that she was a participant as far back as 2012. “Her addiction is substantial,” Hampton said. “It appears from her criminal history that it didn’t take. I don’t know if the tools are available to her right now.”

Reed congratulated Northrup on her recent accomplishments, but added that he was still bound by the law in regard to events that occurred last year.

“I kind of wish I didn’t have to do what I have to do today,” Reed said. “If we don’t use what we’ve learned when we get out, we run the risk of being right back here.”

Reed sentenced Northrup to four years with the Indiana Department of Corrections for the dealing charge, as well as one year and two years respectively for the two probation violations. Northrup received 259 days of credit for time served. The judge also said he would recommend Northrup for the Recovery While Intoxicated program and said completion of that program by the defendant would possibly motivate him to consider a modification down the road.

“Stay on the path you’re on and we’ll see what we can do,” Reed said.