Defendants Sentenced in Starke Circuit Court

 Starke Circuit Judge Kim Hall accepted pleas from and sentenced a pair of defendants yesterday in Starke Circuit Court.

Richard Carter, 31, of North Judson, pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender. He was previously convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in Marshall County. Carter was registered but did not update his address when he moved. He told Judge Hall he was homeless for a couple of months starting in mid-March of this year. Carter intends to move to Plymouth, and Judge Hall stressed he will need to register there. He was sentenced to two years in prison with 18 months of that sentence suspended and credit for time served. The suspended sentence will be served on probation, and the court can modify Carter’s sentence at any time. He must also pay court costs.

Judge Hall also sentenced Jeffery Knoebel of Winamac to 18 months in prison for possession by a methamphetamine offender. His entire sentence is suspended, with nine months to be served on probation with credit for time served and nine months on home detention through community corrections. Knoebel was convicted in 2013 of possession of chemical reagents in Marshall County. Court records indicate he purchased 2.88 grams of pseudoephedrine at Walgreen’s in Knox in February of this year.