Meth Dealer Receives 13 years Sentence

The case began on July 24, 2019.

Miranda Mercurio Photo Provided

(Madison, Ind.) - The Indiana State Police and Madison Police Department with the help of a confidential informant assisted in the arrest and conviction of 29-year-old Miranda Mercurio. Mercurio accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced on October 14, 2020, to 13 years at the Indiana Department of Correction for Dealing Methamphetamine. 

“Our drug interdiction team locally and in partnership with the Indiana State Police is top-notch.  Their work with confidential informants is critical to identifying and bringing to justice suspected drug dealers in our community,” said Jefferson County Prosecutor David Sutter.

The case began with an arranged controlled buy of methamphetamine through the confidential informant on July 24, 2019.  On this date, Mercurio sold approximately 1 gram of methamphetamine to the C.I.  Additional controlled buys took place on July 30, 2019, and August 5, 2019, resulting in Mercurio’s arrest.  In a controlled buy, an undercover officer or a confidential informant arranges for and purchases drugs from a suspected drug dealer. In such investigations, as was the case here, the controlled buy is audio and videotaped, as well as monitored in real-time by nearby police officers.

Mercurio pled guilty to one count of Dealing in Methamphetamine as a Level 3 Felony and two counts of Dealing in Methamphetamine as a Level 4 Felony.  The Level 3 felony carried a sentence of 8 years and will run consecutively to the Level 4 felonies which will run concurrently resulting in 5 years, for a total 13-year sentence.  Mercurio will serve 8 years in the Indiana Department of Correction with 5 suspended to Community Corrections.