Amanda Lynne Bennett, 37, New Palestine
HANCOCK COUNTY — A New Palestine woman who was pulled over after a concerned citizen reported a driving complaint is now facing felony drug crimes after the woman admitted to law enforcement that she sells methamphetamine to people in Greenfield.
Amanda Lynne Bennett, 37, 2600 block of U.S. 52, was charged with a Level 2 felony count of dealing methamphetamine; a Level 4 felony count of possession of methamphetamine and a Class C misdemeanor count of possession of paraphernalia from an incident on Feb. 23.
Bennett was arrested late last week and taken to the Hancock County Jail after an official with the Greenfield Police Department found she had drugs in her possession. Bennett had an initial appearance in Hancock County Circuit Court on Thursday after the case was officially opened and filed Wednesday.
The court set a $25,000 cash bond. Bennett is scheduled to be back in court April 25. She is still currently listed as an inmate in the county jail.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a sergeant with the Greenfield Police Department was called to check out a driver near I-70 and Ind. 9 around 6:30 p.m. Feb 23. The call stated that the driver crossed the yellow line and nearly hit another vehicle head-on, the affidavit said. The vehicle, a van, ended up going north on Fields Boulevard, and the officer found the vehicle stopped in a warehouse parking lot there.
The sergeant made contact with the lone person in the van, a woman driver later identified at Bennett. The sergeant noted in the affidavit as he was trying to talk to Bennett he observed her to be “very nervous” and noted her voice to be “shaky.” Bennett, the sergeant stated, said she was there waiting on a friend who worked at the warehouse.
When the sergeant asked Bennett to share her driver’s license, he noticed she was sitting oddly in the van. The sergeant then asked her if there was a reason why she was sitting the way she was and as soon as he asked he said she put her right hand in between her legs and covered her face with her left hand and arm. That’s when the sergeant said he saw a silver bag between her legs.
“I looked inside the vehicle to where she was looking and observed multiple clear plastic baggies with a white crystal-like substance sitting in between her legs that were between the silver bag and her upper inner thigh,” the sergeant said in the report.
Bennett was asked to get out of the van and was placed in handcuffs, the affidavit said. The sergeant then found another clear plastic baggy with a crystal-like substance inside of the door handle once the door was opened, the affidavit said.
“Through my training and experience as a law enforcement officer, I believe the crystal-like substance to be methamphetamine,” the sergeant said in the report.
The affidavit stated there was also a digital scale and multiple individual loose baggies in the center console. The sergeant noted he secured multiple baggies of crystal-like substance, one silver vial, one green vial, and a silver wallet with a glass-blown pipe used for narcotics.
The affidavit noted officials found one bag weighing approximately 8.80 grams, one bag weighing approximately 2.79 grams, one bag weighing approximately 4.44 grams, a green vial with crystal-like substance inside weighing approximately 1.01 grams, and a silver vial with crystal-like substance inside weighing approximately 2.30 grams, bringing the total weight to 19.34 grams.
During a conversation with law enforcement, Bennett admitted to both buying and selling methamphetamine, the affidavit said. She stated in the report that she buys around an ounce each week to try to sell to people in Greenfield.
