Man sentenced to 13 years on drug, theft charges

Charges are from 2019

Madison, Indiana (December 28, 2021) - Jefferson County Prosecutor David Sutter said a local man has been sentenced to 13 years in the Indiana Dept. of Correction on drug and theft charges stemming from 2019.

Skyler Barnes, 26, was sentenced by Judge Donald J. Mote in Jefferson Circuit Court Dec. 10 after entering a plea agreement in November. Barnes was sentenced to 12 years on a felony charge of dealing in methamphetamine and to one year on a felony auto theft charge. The sentences are to be served consecutively (back to back).

According to the probable cause affidavit, Barnes was an active drug dealer in 2019. He had a practice of stealing valuable items, including appliances and vehicles, and trading them for methamphetamine. He told police he was unemployed and his source of income for the past several months had been dealing drugs.

Barnes traded stolen items for methamphetamine, then sold the meth. He told officers he paid $400 for an ounce of the drug and re-sold it, packaging it by the gram in baggies and selling them for $40 each. Barnes said he dealt to an average of 10 people daily.

“Mr. Barnes was harming the community not only by selling methamphetamine, but also by stealing from innocent people to finance his operation,” said Prosecutor Sutter.

On Dec. 10, 2019, law enforcement received information that Barnes was dealing meth from a red Ford pickup in Jefferson County. Police discovered Barnes’ operator’s license was suspended with a prior and he had two active arrest warrants. 

Police located Barnes in the driver’s seat of a red Ford pickup at a gas pump at the Hanover Circle K. Troopers could see a glass pipe containing residue on the center console and two plastic baggies containing a crystalline substance fall when Barnes stood up.

A subsequent search revealed a backpack with Barnes’ name written on it and credit/debit card with his name in it. Also inside were a digital scale, plastic baggies and corner cut baggies.

On the day of his arrest, Barnes said he was meeting someone to sell them 3.5 ounces of methamphetamine. The truck Barnes was driving, along with another vehicle, had been stolen from a man in Jefferson County.