HANCOCK COUNTY — The last of the Greenfield teenagers who were charged when another teen was shot in Oct. 2021, was sentenced late last week in Hancock County Circuit Court, where a plea agreement was accepted.
Ethan Emilio Melendez, 18, was facing a Level 4 felony count of operating a machine gun in the incident as well as other charges after a younger boy was shot in the arm during a gathering of teenagers early in the morning at a residence in the 800 block of North Noble Street.
While the Level 4 felony carried a sentence of up to 12 years in prison, Melendez didn’t have to worry about that charge. The plea agreement called for him to admit guilt to a Level 5 felony count of carrying a handgun without a license and carrying without a license within 500 feet of a school.
Melendez was given a six-year term with three years suspended to probation. He also received jail credit for 378 days already served. The Level 4 felony and two other Level 6 felonies were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Melendez, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was also ordered to surrender other weapons discovered in the case. Detectives with the Greenfield Police Department found two handguns found near the scene of the shooting and said they belonged to the suspect. The guns, officials said, had extended magazines inserted; the slide cover plates also had been changed, allowing them to function as fully automatic weapons, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in support of the charges. A search warrant executed on Melendez’s cellphone revealed photos and videos of him in possession of both guns.
One of the other teens involved in the case, Jayden L. Polston, 16, 5000 block of Meckes Lane, Indianapolis admitted guilt to three of the Level 3 felony charges he was facing with all the penalties to run concurrent. Polston was officially sentenced in Hancock County Superior Court 1, Sept. 14.
He was given a nine-year sentence by Judge Donald E. Currie with four years to be executed and five years suspended to probation. Polston is to spend the first year of probation on home detention. He was given credit for time served, nearly 400 days, and the other eight charges Polston was facing were dismissed.
Others charged in the case included Jesse Ray Ford, 16, 800 block of North Noble Street, Greenfield; and Mason Scott Ford, 16, 800 block of North Noble Street, Greenfield.
The charges came after a lengthy investigation by the GPD into the Oct. 7, 2021 shooting in which a 15-year-old boy was wounded. The shooting took place around 6:40 a.m. at a home in the 800 block of North Noble Street.
The shooting took place at the house where Jesse Ford and Mason Ford live. Police said the Fords and Polston also were present at the time of the shooting as was Melendez.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the three teenagers robbed at gunpoint a couple of teens who were walking near the parking lot of the Greenfield Friends Church in the 300 block of West Park Avenue. The incident took place between 10 and 11 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, the night before the shooting.
One of the teens who was robbed was carrying a backpack with camping supplies, including a first aid kit and a hand-held chainsaw. The teen also had $300 to $500 in cash, the affidavit said.
Polston was identified as the person with the gun — “a black handgun with a really big magazine,” one of the victims said in the affidavit. The other two robbers were identified as Jesse Ford and Mason Ford. The two juveniles said after they were robbed, Polston told them to start “stepping or he’d light the block up,” the affidavit said.
One of the juveniles who was robbed told officials he was friends with Polston on social media and he was afraid to tell anyone what had happened to them right away for fear of retaliation, the affidavit said. The victim also told police Polston told him to not tell anyone what happened and that he knew where the victim lived.
