George Bolden

WARSAW — A Michigan man was sentenced in Kosciusko Circuit Court Monday, April 30, on charges related to a 2015 incident that resulted in four people being arrested.

On March 21, 2015, Warsaw police responded to a complaint regarding a strong smell of marijuana coming from a room at the Deluxe Inn. 

According to the affidavit of probable cause, officers met with the manger of the Deluxe Inn, who advised she had received several complaints from other tenants about a strong smell of marijuana. The manager informed officers which room she believed the smell was coming from. She advised she had spoken with the occupants of that room and told them not to smoke on the premises. 

While officers were speaking with the manager, a male subject, identified as Bolden, approached and advised he was the person being complained about, further advising he had rented the room. 

Officers followed Bolden to the room where the door was answered by another male. Officers were invited into the room and could immediately smell a strong odor of marijuana. An officer read Bolden his Miranda rights. Bolden gave officers permission to search the room. In the other male’s duffel bag, officers found clothing and a shoe that contained four oval yellow pills and a plastic bag containing 38.7 grams of oval yellow pills. These were identified as hydrocodone, a schedule II narcotic drug.  

In Bolden’s duffel bag, officers discovered nine clear plastic baggies that contained a total weight of 1,522.9 grams of oval yellow pills, identified as hydrocodone. Officers also found a prescription pill bottle that contained 10 blue oval pills. These were identified as alprazolam, a schedule IV controlled substance. 

Officers arrested Bolden and the other male and searched them. Bolden had $3,150 on his person, while the other male had $890 on his person. 

Kosciusko County Dispatch advised officers that a call had been received from the Deluxe Inn, stating that a taxi had just dropped two male subjects at the Deluxe Inn and that they were attempting to get the key for the room that officers had just searched. When hotel staff would not give them the key, the subjects left in the same taxi. Officers located the taxi driver, who advised officers of the location where he had taken the two male subjects.

At that time, officers went to this location where a male subject answered the door and invited them inside. The officers observed another male sitting on the couch. While officers were speaking with the male sitting on the couch, they observed two clear plastic bags containing a large amount of oval yellow pills on the sofa next to the male. The pills appeared to be the same type of pills found at the Deluxe Inn. Officers identified the pills as hydrocodone, with a total weight of 77 grams. Beside the yellow pills was a clear plastic baggie that contained orange and white capsules, identified as amphetamine/dextroamphetamine, a schedule II controlled substance. Both males were arrested.

Bolden explained to Judge Michael Reed that he had recently been incarcerated in Michigan and had earned several certificates during that time, including certificates for substance abuse classes and self-help group certificates. 

“Do you think the time you spent incarcerated in Michigan has changed you?” asked Bolden’s attorney, Scott Reust.

“Correct, Sir,” Bolden responded. “It made me a better person than what I was back then. It basically made me more smarter.”

Bolden asked the judge for a lenient sentence, adding that he has a job lined up in Michigan and would like to get his life on the right track. 

“Mr. Bolden, you obviously have potential if you use it right,” said Reed, “but I can’t overlook what you did. One of the risks when you’re in the drug selling business is the risk of getting caught and punished. I don’t have any alternative but to do that.”

Bolden was found guilty of dealing in a look-alike substance, a level 5 felony. Reed sentenced Bolden to four years at the Indiana Department of Corrections, with the sentenced to be served consecutive to any sentence being served in Michigan.  Bolden was given 115 days of jail time credit and ordered to pay court costs and a minimum $200 drug interdiction fee. Pursuant to the plea agreement, two other charges were dismissed.