Tribune staff reports

A Jackson County man who pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance to an informant for $40 in May 2014 recently received a 12-year prison term.

Richard Thomas Goben, 35, of Brownstown was ordered to spend eight years of that sentence in prison and two on home detention — if he can serve the first eight without loss of good time, according to the order signed by Jackson Circuit Judge Richard W. Poynter.

That order stems from Goben’s decision to plead guilty to dealing in a Schedule III controlled substance, a Class B felony.

Poynter suspended the final two years of that sentence, ordering Goben to spend that time on supervised probation. He also received 322 days of credit time and 322 days of good credit.

The plea agreement was approved by Poynter on Dec. 30 and stems from Goben’s arrest in January 2015. That arrest occurred after an investigation conducted by Jackson County Officer Ben Rudolph with the help of Brownstown Officer John Long and county Officer Tom Barker.

During that investigation, Rudolph said a confidential informant purchased two Suboxone sublingual filmstrips containing Buprenorphine and Naloxone from Goben on May 7, 2014, in Jackson County. The strips are placed under the tongue and used to treat opiate addictions.

As part of the plea deal, the state agreed to dismiss a second Class B felony count of dealing in a controlled substance against Goben along with a Class D felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance.

The sentence will be served at the same time as a 180-day sentence he received June 18 after pleading guilty to a Class A misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement. He received that sentence from Jackson Superior I Judge Bruce Markel III.