The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/315570
A-2 Wednesday, May 21, 2014 The Press-Dispatch yeah, it's that fast! net edition Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. the Fitness Center New Summer hours start June 1 HOURS: Mon-Fri: 10am-7pm Saturday: 10am-1pm 604 East Illinois St., Petersburg (near the Little League Park) 812-354-1303 We carry the latest Nutritional Supplements GET in SHAPE Summer! for Get your tan "in shape" with our Tanning Packages! Ask about Jill Snyder Exercise Classes! FREE RENTAL 105 North 5th Street Petersburg • 354-8350 www.pete.doitbest.com v y w Petersburg Hardware/Rental Center PAY FOR SUNDAY AND GET MEMORIAL DAY FREE! Rent any item after Noon Saturday, May 24 Return by 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 27 and Monday is FREE! By Andy Heuring A husband and wife were arrested on marijua- na charges after an eight month investigation led to what police called "an un- derground grow room." Amy Guy, 41, of 2022 N. CR 700 E., Winslow, and Chad Robert Guy, 42, of the same address, were arrest- ed on May 8 after Pike Coun- ty Sheriff's Deputies Chad Tharp and Dallas Killian ob- tained a search warrant for their residence. Deputy Tharp said dur- ing the search Deputy Buck Seger found a trap door in the laundry floor. "When he opened it, the light just boiled out of it," said Tharp. Tharp said they found a room about 12' by 12' under- neath the modular home. He said they found 24 marijuana plants in the room that had grow lights and aluminum foil on the walls to reflect the light. Along with the plants, he said they found a jar full of marijuana buds. "This was an elaborate grow operation. They had lights and aluminum paper on the walls, and calenders marked with the best times of the year to start plants," said Tharp. "We found about a pound of marijuana," said Tharp. According to police re- cords, they also found a smoking pipe with a small amount of meth residue in it. The couple was taken into custody on charges of deal- ing in marijuana, a class D felony; count II maintaining a common nuisance, a class D felony; count III posses- sion of marijuana, a class A misdemeanor; count IV possession of methamphet- amine, a class D felony. Pot bust yields plants, 'grow room' By Andy Heuring A woman serving week- ends at the Pike County Jail has been charged with two counts of trafficking with an inmate, a class A misde- meanor, and one count of ob- struction of justice (attempt- ed), a class D felony. Pike County Sheriff Jer- emy Britton said Ashley K. Feltner, who was serving a weekend sentence on other charges, was reported to be smuggling pills into the Pike County Jail. He said when Feltner ar- rived for the second week- end of her sentence, jail per- sonnel did a search of her but didn't find anything. Lat- er, they got more informa- tion about it and found the pills in her cell. Sheriff Brit- ton said the pills were found to be an over-the-counter sleeping pill. However, he said even though they were over-the-counter, it was ille- gal to bring any unauthor- ized medication into the jail. He added they were not originally found because she had hid them in a body cavity. According to charging information filed with Pike Circuit Court, Feltner had used a cellophane wrapper to put the pills in before hid- ing them in a body cavity, and then attempted to flush the wrapper down the toilet so it couldn't be used as ev- idence. By Andy Heuring A cable tray fire at IPL has shut down one of four units at the Petersburg plant. Mark Flint, director of Workforce Development, Labor and Public Affairs at IPL said they hope to have the unit up and running in the next couple of days. Petersburg Fire Depart- ment Captain Jeff Nelson, who is employed at IPL, said the fire started late Wednes- day night in a large tray that holds cables. IPL crews were able to control it. However, the next morning at about 7 a.m., it reignited. Nelson said crews were able to con- trol it until their large fire extinguishers had been ex- hausted. They had called for back up extinguishers from nearby Hoosier Ener- gy's Ratts Plant and from the fire extinguisher company. They called the Peters- burg Fire Department as a precautionary measure to be on scene while they waited for those extinguishers to ar- rive. Petersburg Fire Chief Rich Coan said Petersburg's Fire Department responded, but because six fire depart- ment members work at IPL, they mostly handled the fire on the inside. "We basically just were there on standby," said Coan. He said the school also sent some extra fire extin- guishers they had in stor- age. "Some people were saying this put the school in jeopardy. It did not, these were extra extinguishers they had," aid Coan. After a few hours, Nelson said the fire department members who were on staff at IPL stayed at the scene with Petersburg's back-up fire truck, and the other fire- men left the scene but were on standby. "We have hundreds of miles of cables, so when we have a problem like this, it affects a lot of things," said Flint. Cable tray fire shuts down one IPL unit By Andy Heuring A man was arrested on Wednesday, May 7 after a teen accused him of shov- ing her and firing a gun in her direction. Dameon R. Harmon, 36, of 218 N. Van Buren St., Hunt- ingburg, was arrested in Vel- pen by Pike County Deputy Sheriff Buck Seger on pre- liminary charges of intimi- dation with a deadly weap- on and criminal reckless- ness with a deadly weapon. Deputy Seger said he was called by Travis Veit, who claimed Harmon had fired a gun at his daughter, Mcka- la. Seger in a probable cause affidavit states McKala and her friend, Kayla Powell, went to Kayla's residence to get some clothes. Mckala said her dogs followed them and while they were at the Velpen residence, Harmon returned home and began yelling at them about the dogs that were outside. Veit told Deputy Seger that Harmon came into the residence and pushed her, then went into his room and got a gun. She and Kay- la started to leave the resi- dence and as they were leav- ing, Harmon pointed the gun at them and fired it. Deputy Seger said he then went to the residence at 2548 S. CR 900 E. and talked with Harmon about the incident. Harmon, according to the affidavit, said he was angry because he had told Veit to keep the dogs at her house. He said he had put his dog up in a pen. He denied shov- ing shoving Viet but said he fired a shot into the air to scare the dogs. Deputy Seger said he placed Harmon in handcuffs and took him into custody. Man arrested after shot is fired Inmate charged with trafficking By Andy Heuring Chris Helsley was sen- tenced to life in prison with- out parole on Tuesday in Jas- per. Helsley was convicted in June 2002 of the April 2001 murders of Pike County EMTs Marsha Rainey and Brad Maxwell. Last month during a special sentencing trial, a Dubois County jury recommended a sentence of life without parole. By Indi- ana Law, Special Judge Wil- liam Weikert was bound by the jury's recommendation to issue that sentence. Tuesday in Dubois Coun- ty Circuit Court Helsley was formally sentenced to life without parole in a hearing that lasted about 15 minutes. Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald said Hels- ley told the court he intends to pursue another appeal of this sentence. The retrial of his sentence was agreed to last year af- ter Helsley had appealed both his conviction and sen- tence. In an agreement, the conviction was upheld and part of that agreement is he can not appeal the con- viction. The agreement al- so allowed for new trial on the life without parole sen- tence. The jury again recom- mended life without parole and Judge Wiekert finalized that yesterday. Helsley's life-without-parole sentence reinstated An eight month investigation led to this underground pot growing room, with grow lights and alumi- num foil on the walls to reflect the light onto the plants. The grow room was discovered during a search of Chad and Amy Guy's residence, after police found the trap door under a pile of clothes.