FATHER GETS OVER 5 YEARS FOR METH DEALING
An East Chicago man got 63 months in federal prison last month after admitting he sold meth.
Christopher Waiters, 36, formerly of Merrillville, was sentenced May 27. He admitted in documents filed Jan. 21 that he sold the drug in April 2023.
Court records show Waiters was sentenced to four years’ probation in March 2023 in Lake County for an August 2017 crash into a school bus in Calumet Township that killed his 6-year-old son.
His son Malachi Waiters suffered injuries, including a fractured skull, and died from the crash.
Another 4-year-old in the car was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
ARSON CASE DROPPED AFTER WOMAN FINISHES MENTAL HEALTH COURT
An East Chicago woman had her arson and stalking cases dismissed earlier this month after she completed mental health court, filings show.
Antoinette Prieto, 30, signed a plea deal last year.
Griffith Police responded on Feb. 16, 2023, for a reported vehicle fire on the 1200 block of E. 35th Avenue. A Ford Explorer and two other adjacent vehicles were on fire.
Officers located and stopped a vehicle owned by Prieto, then of Hammond, who was known to police from the prior Explorer fire as well as other criminal mischief. Prieto’s hair and eyebrows were burned, her jacket appeared to have melted and she smelled like smoke, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Prieto later admitted responsibility for both arsons and the other acts of criminal mischief, telling officers she was targeting the Explorer’s owner, police said.
LAST MAN SENTENCED IN 2019 RIDGE ROAD SHOOTING
A Gary man got 2.5 years in April for a June 2019 shooting on Ridge Road, court records show.
Damajae McKenzie, 30, pleaded guilty in April to criminal recklessness.
The shooting happened around 9:15 p.m. June 22, 2019, near the 2000 block of Ridge Road by Wicker Park in Highland, a probable cause affidavit said. A man driving eastbound in another car with two friends to a Dairy Queen told police he noticed an SUV weaving back and forth in traffic, wanting to pass him.
Co-defendant Alonzo Kirk told police he and friends had left St. Thomas More’s summer festival in Munster after a fight where they had been jumped by another group. While driving eastbound on Ridge Road, Kirk’s passengers “told him a car was following them fast and they believed it was the people they just fought with,” court documents said.
After they “heard what they thought was a gunshot,” Kirk told police he passed a semi-automatic pistol to the back seat. McKenzie, a friend of Kirk, and co-defendant Le’Montrell Johnson — whom Kirk “only knew as ‘Trell’” — were “both were shooting from the back seat and they each had guns,” court records state.
Kirk was sentenced in July 2021 to 18 months of home detention and 2.5 years of probation. Johnson was sentenced to 2.5 years in Lake County Community Corrections and 3.5 years of probation in 2024.
CASE DROPPED AGAINST BOUNCER
Prosecutors dropped all charges against a bouncer for allegedly slapping a bar patron in February.
Damon G. Simmons, 52, of Gary, was charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury and misdemeanor criminal recklessness.
Merrillville Police were called at 9:28 p.m. May 23, 2023, to Sheffield’s Bar & Restaurant, 1515 E. 82nd. Ave.
A witness at the bar said the victim had been using a racial slur and Simmons repeatedly told him to stop.
Post-Tribune archives contributed; mcolias@post-trib.com.
