Roberto Philipe Villa

WARSAW — A prior criminal history, including federal charges, netted a Milford man with the mandatory sentence for dealing cocaine.

Roberto Philipe Villa, 41, whose address is shown by the courts as 212 Smith St., Milford, received a 20-year sentence for dealing cocaine, more than three grams, a class A felony, this morning, Monday, Sept. 28, in Kosciusko Circuit Court. He will serve his sentence in the Indiana Department of Corrections.

Villa was given 948 days credit for the time incarcerated on the charge from June 11, 2014 to date. A second charge of dealing in cocaine, also a class A felony; and two counts of possession of cocaine, more than three grams, both class C felonies, were dismissed.

During the court proceedings Villa apologized to the court, prosecution, his attorney and his family for his actions, accepting full responsibilities for his actions and asking the court to have mercy on him.

Villa was also ordered to pay $1,300 restitution to the Drug Task Force and $362.89 to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. While no specific federal charges can be found, Judge Mike Reed ordered his sentence to be served consecutive with any sentence he is serving with the federal government.

Villa was indicted on May 23, 2012, by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court, Fort Wayne, on two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm on or about Dec. 1, and Dec. 7, 2011. The charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, Kosciusko County Drug Task Force and IMAGE Drug Task Force. He was sentenced in 2012. According to a search of the Federal Bureau of Prisons he is scheduled for release on those charges on Nov. 28, 2015.

Local Charges

Original charges were filed on March 15, 2013, by Warsaw Police, when a purchase of cocaine was arranged through a confidential informant from Villa. The purchase was to take place at Villa’s Milford address. An undercover officer and the informant met Villa where he handed them a plastic bag weighing 29 grams. In exchange Villa was given $1,300 cash.

A second purchase was arranged on Jan. 12, 2012, to purchase one ounce of cocaine from Villa, at a price of $1,300. This time the purchase took place inside the Villa residence. The bag of white powdery substance weighed 29.1 grams.

According to the chronological case summary for Villa, he was being held in the Federal Correctional Institution, a minimum security center, Morgantown, W.Va., on May 12, 2014. An entry on May 21, 2014, shows the prosecutor’s office filed a prosecutor’s acceptance of temporary custody with the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons. No further details were available

This is Villa’s second time being sentenced for dealing cocaine or narcotic drugs.

Court records show on May 28, 1999, Villa was sentenced to 12 years at the DOC on a charge of dealing cocaine, a class F felony, with two years probation. He was released from the DOC on or about March 7, 2004 and served two years on probation, being discharged from probation on May 1, 2006.