Operation Double Trouble is now officially in the books as the last of the sentences involving defendants in the drug raid that took place more than a year and a half ago was handed down Wednesday in Dubois Superior Court.
Back on June 4, 2015, local law enforcement officers began serving arrest warrants for drug dealing offenses stemming from an investigation that was dubbed as ìOperation Double Trouble. In total, and in 2 rounds of arrests, 18 individuals were served with arrest warrants for drug dealing charges in Dubois and Spencer Counties.
Operation Double Trouble was the second drug raid completed as a joint effort between the Dubois County Prosecutor’s Office and the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department
Now the prosecutor’s office says the last pending case as part of Operating Double Trouble was resolved yesterday (Wednesday) with the sentencing of a Pike County man.
38-year old DeWayne Bouillon of Otwell, previously entered into a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Level 5 felony. The agreement called for Bouillon’s sentence to be left to the discretion of the Court.
Yesterday, (Wednesday) Dubois County Superior Court Judge Mark McConnell sentenced Bouillon to 5 years to be served at the Indiana Department of Correction. McConnell ordered Bouillon to participate in the department’s Purposeful Incarceration program, which is essentially a drug rehabilitation program ran by the department of corrections.
McConnell said that he would consider modifying Bouillon’s sentence to probation if he successfully completes the program.
The prosecutor’s office says in the 17 cases filed in Dubois County, the sentences totaled 88 years, with 51 years of jail time.
They note that these totals are in sharp contrast to the totals seen from the first drug raid known as “Operation Big Brother.” The sentences in that raid that took place in July of 2013 totaled 165 and a half years, with 135 years of jail time.
They say the great reduction in sentences is a direct result of the changes to the Indiana Criminal Code that occurred in July of 2014.
At that time the criminal code was revised to punish drug offenses, including dealing offenses, more leniently. The idea behind the change was to try to rehabilitate drug offenders, rather than simply punishing them by putting them in jail.
The Dubois County Prosecutor’s Office says unfortunately it has has not seen this intended effect.
Rather, the prosecutor’s office says it has seen drug offenders, particularly dealers, receive lenient sentences on drug offenses, and upon completion of those sentences those individuals continue to reoffend.
The prosecutor’s office says they are unhappy with the current state of the Indiana Criminal Code, however they say they will continue to try to vigorously prosecute drug dealing offenses.
