2017 Rockport, IN – Sixto Cotto, 60 of Jasper, was convicted on Wednesday, June 21 by a Spencer County jury of two counts of Dealing in Methamphetamine as Level 5 felonies and one count of Possession of Methamphetamine as a Level 6 felony. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for approximately twenty minutes Wednesday following a day and a half of testimony.
Spencer County Sheriff’s Department Deputy, Kelli Reinke, arrested Cotto on February 27 of this year following a month long investigation of Cotto with the cooperation of a confidential informant. Cotto was observed and recorded delivering what was later determined to be 3.26 grams of methamphetamine to the informant during a controlled buy at the Stone’s Motel parking lot in Dale on February 16th. Cotto then made a second delivery of what was later determined to be 3.19 grams of methamphetamine to the informant on February 24th at Kimball International near Santa Claus. An arrest warrant was issued for Cotto on February 27 and he was arrested the same day by Deputy Reinke after stopping him in his vehicle on SR 162 near Santa Claus with the assistance of officers from the Santa Claus and Dale Police Departments.
Spencer County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Wilkinson said, “I appreciate very much the time and effort Deputy Reinke put into this particular investigation and prosecution. Mr. Cotto is a repeat drug dealer who didn’t learn a lesson from his previous prison sentence and has continued to spread methamphetamine in our community. He deserves the stiffest penalty the law will allow.”
Cotto was previously arrested for Dealing in Methamphetamine in Spencer County on January 24, 2003 and later plead guilty to possession of 29 grams of methamphetamine within 1000 feet of David Turnham Elementary School as a Class A felony. Cotto received a sentence of 50 years in 2004 that was later reduced by the Indiana Court of Appeals to 30 years.
Cotto will be sentenced before Judge Jon Dartt on July 21 at 11:00 A.M. where he could potentially receive up to 12 years in prison. Cotto will be required to serve 75% of any sentence that he is ordered to serve at the Indiana Department of Correction.
