Cherry
Jury selection began Tuesday in the Bartholomew Superior Court 1 trial of an accused drug dealer with an extensive criminal history.
Keith Cherry, 36, of Columbus is charged with dealing in methamphetamine as a Level 2 felony, maintaining a common nuisance as a Level 6 felony and as being a habitual offender.
While investigators allege a large amount of illegal narcotics and paraphernalia were found at Cherry’s residence last spring, the defendant was not present when the drugs were found and four others were arrested, according to a probable cause affidavit.
On May 16, officers in Columbus were dispatched to 311 Cleveland St. after a 911 call was made regarding a drug overdose.
As police arrived at the residence two blocks southwest of Garland Brook Cemetery, an assisting sheriff’s deputy saw a woman running out the back door, the affidavit states. The deputy later identified the fleeing woman as 34-year-old Jessica Comstock, who shared a bedroom inside the residence with Cherry.
The person who overdosed, identified as 20-year-old Chase Barnhart, was already alert and conscious when first responders arrived, investigators wrote. Barnhart had been administered multiple doses of naloxone by a 19-year-old woman who had arrived to take care of Comstock’s young daughter. While she denied it at first, Comstock later admitted the child was inside the house during the overdose, court documents state.
The 19-year-old woman, who has not been charged, went outside to make the 911 call after she saw Barnhart had lost consciousness, according to police. After completing the call, the woman found she was locked out of the residence, the affidavit states.
Another resident of the house, Dustin Harden, was arrested on charges of maintaining a common nuisance and possession of a narcotic drug.
Harden, 19, was carrying fentanyl at the time of his arrest, investigators said in court documents. Barnhart told police Harden had supplied him with the drug and claimed it was cocaine, the affidavit stated.
Barnhart’s overdose provided police with probable cause to get a search warrant. Nearly 58 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of about $1,600, was discovered inside the bedroom shared by Cherry and Comstock, according to police. Investigators also state they found digital scales with residue that tested positive for methamphetamine, as well as plastic baggies commonly used by narcotic dealers. Other paraphernalia located on the premises included packaging material and syringes, according to police reports.
Despite Cherry’s absence, an arrest warrant was issued for him as a result of the investigation. It was two weeks later – on May 30 – that police located Cherry at a home off South Pine Street, near the Woodside/Walesboro area for industrial use.
Comstock, 37, was eventually taken into custody for violating terms of her probation agreement, investigators said. On Dec. 5, 2019, Comstock received a nine year sentence from Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton for dealing in methamphetamine as a Level 3 felony. But after a sentence modification in September 2021, she was released from prison and placed on a work release program that was still in effect during her latest arrest.
During a second interview on May 20, Comstock said all the illegal drugs and paraphernalia in the bedroom belonged to Cherry. She also claims the cell phone that she tried to wipe all messages from before her arrest also belonged to Cherry.
But police say Comstock also lied to them by claiming she was on lockdown at the jail, and was not at her residence when it was searched.
Cherry’s criminal record includes a 10-year sentence for burglary and resisting law enforcement in 2017, three separate charges of theft, possession of methamphetamine in 2014, possession of a narcotic drug in Jackson County in 2014 and multiple probation violations.
