Published: July 03, 2009 11:04 am      

Two men given 14-year sentences in meth cases

Trial date also set for murder suspect in Hines death.

An Elkhart man was sentenced Thursday morning in Elkhart County Circuit Court for his role in an Elkhart meth lab bust.

Steven Hardy, 42, was sentenced to 14 years at the Indiana Department of Corrections, with four of the years suspended on a reporting term of probation.

Hardy was arrested near the intersection of Old U.S. 20 and County Line Road in Elkhart back in March. He was charged with possession of methamphetamine, manufacturing methamphetamine and felony fleeing at the scene. However the possession of meth and fleeing charges were dropped Thursday following sentencing.

Police pulled over the Hardy in his van about 2:30 a.m. for speeding and driving erratically. Elkhart police found three working meth cooking pots in the back of the van.

Thursday morning Hardy admitted to Judge Terry Shewmaker excessive drug use in his past, including a 20-year period where he would use marijuana “daily” and use of LSD, prescription drugs, meth, alcohol and cocaine.

“Everything but heroine,” Hardy said.

Acknowledging that he needed counseling, defense attorney Mike Yoder said that Hardy recognized that his drug use had spiraled out of control and Hardy had lost significant weight in recent months.

“His first words to me were ‘You probably saved my life,’” Yoder said.

Yoder said that Hardy would manufacture the meth in the van to keep his family out of harm’s way.

Along with the the 14-year sentence, Hardy also received 50 hours of community service.

Also Thursday morning, a Warsaw man received an identical sentence on the same charge but an unrelated incident.

Robert Schultz III, 30, received the same 14 year sentence with four years suspended and 50 hours of community service Thursday morning for manufacturing methamphetamines, a class B felony.

Schultz’s sentence was agreed upon by the defendant and the state.

Erik Moore, 23, Elkhart, was sentenced Thursday to a year at the Elkhart County Jail, with the Elkhart County Community Corrections Center as a possible alternate placement, for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

The OWI charge was a violation of the probation he received in 2006 following a October of 2005 armed robbery and is to be served consecutive to the sentence in the 2005 case.

In addition to the sentence for violating his probation, Moore also has his license suspended for a year.

Also Benjamin Underwood, 19, of 639 Milwaukee Ave., Elkhart, was informed of his trial date of Oct. 5, 2009.

Underwood was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of Ricky Hines, 21, on March 16.