A former Ball State student who was arrested last spring for dealing illegal drugs from his dorm room was sentenced to 90 days in jail Monday by a Delaware County Circuit Court judge.
Judge Robert Barnet Jr. of Circuit Court 3 handed down the 90-day sentence after John M. Lam, 19, Schererville, plead guilty to dealing marijuana in April from his room in Beeman Hall.
In one of the largest drug busts to be made in the residence halls, police confiscated between $13,000 and $18,000 worth of drugs in Lam's room - including six pounds of marijuana and 200 steroid pills - in addition to syringes, scales and $1,000 cash.
Under the terms of Lam's plea agreement, Lam plead guilty in mid-September to dealing marijuana - a class D felony with a standard 1 1/2 year prison term - in return for the dismissal of four other drug-related charges brought against him. All charges brought against Lam's roommate in the case have been dropped.
In addition to his 90-day sentence, two days of which he has served since his arrest, Lam's Class A misdemeanor charge included a suspension of his driver's license for six months.
Lam's probation officer recommended a one-year suspended sentence for Lam with weekends served in jail over the course of 30 days, but Deputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney argued for a stronger sentencing.
"This is a man who was dealing in large amounts, with more than five pounds of inventory, and who told police he was selling drugs all day long at close to $200 an ounce," McKinney said. "I think he was a bigger dealer than he even thought he was."
Barnet told Lam, currently a student at Purdue University, that he took into account Lam's age and this being his first criminal conviction when deciding the verdict.
"This was an operation that obviously involved quite a bit of planning and preparation," Barnet said to Lam. "You were a professional who was doing this for money, and your actions had an adverse impact on the the community, university and fellow students."
In his defense, Lam told the judge he had "gotten greedy."
"There's not one day that goes by that I don't wish I couldn't go back and change the past," Lam said. "I know I messed up, and the only thing keeping me up is looking towards the future."
Lam's family and girlfriend were present for the trial, with his brother, father and girlfriend's father testifying in his defense.
"This has obviously been a learning experience for him," Lam's brother, Mike Lam, said. "He knew what he did, he embarrassed himself and his family and he paid for it."
Lam told the judge he began dealing drugs to people he knew in January and only smoked marijuana occasionally. McKinney said Lam twice sold the drug to an undercover police officer.
Lam also informed the judge that he had not used any of the steroids found in his room, but was researching more about them with the intention of doing so.
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