With COVID-19 keeping a lot of people home in 2020, there were fewer people out committing crimes in northeast Indiana.
Although, not so much in Steuben County, where they had an approximately 30% increase in the number of criminal charges filed compared to previous years.
Overall criminal filings in 2020 were down compared to 2019, with DeKalb, LaGrange and Noble county prosecutors all filling fewer charges last year than in previous years.
Steuben County, however, went the opposite direction, seeing an increase in filings. As the least populous county in the area, Steuben usually has the lowest amount of filings of the four counties, but this past year it saw an unusual increase.
Maybe DeKalb County, too.
But Noble County officers are finding more and more methamphetamine in liquid form. And while officers arenât quite sure why the trend is happening, Noble County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Mowery knows what to do about it.
Heâs prosecuting it.
State law treats the weight of methamphetamine recovered by officials the same in either pure or adulterated form when it comes to levels of charging.
Anyone possessing more than 10 grams of methamphetamine and less than 28 grams is charged with a Level 4 felony.
That can be 11 grams of pure meth, according to state law. Or 6 grams of pure meth mixed with 5 grams of baking soda.
Angel says she cries herself to sleep at night and that she desperately wants to call or write to her husband.
Charged with Angelâs rape, her husband, Dallas L. Julow, 55, is in Steuben County Jail, held on $25,000 bail.
Dallas and Angel married May 29 at a Kendallville residence. Their Steuben County marriage license is part of the evidence collected for the Steuben Superior Court rape case. The charge specifies the victim is âmentally disabled or deficient.â
The rape allegations call into question Angelâs ability to consent to sexual activity, which may also cast doubt on her right to be married. Court documents refer to her as Angel Fritz, but she signs her name as Angel Julow.