Meth seizure in Hartford City leads to dealing, neglect charges against local woman

HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — A woman who reportedly boasted to Blackford County authorities the meth she had been dealing was "the best ---- that's ever been around here" faces criminal charges with the potential to send her to prison for decades.

Cassandra L. Bonewit, 28 — formerly of Hartford City and more recently of Warren — was charged this week in Blackford Circuit Court with dealing in meth, possession of meth, possession of marijuana and neglect of a dependent.

Because of the amount of meth — more than 45 grams — allegedly recovered from Bonewit and her boyfriend, who was also arrested, the dealing charge is a Level 2 felony carrying up to 30 years in prison, while the possession count is a Level 3 felony with a maximum 16-year sentence.

During an interview following her arrest last Friday, Bonewit reportedly admitted she had been purchasing a half-pound of meth — for $600 — every two weeks, then dealing more than 200 grams of the drug. She also said she routinely injected about eight grams of the meth during the same two-week period.

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After she indicated she routinely sold a "ball" of meth — about 3.5 grams — for $300, investigators noted that price seemed high. That prompted Bonewit's comment about the quality of the product she sold, James Heflin, chief deputy of the Blackford County Sheriff's Department, wrote in an affidavit.

The chief deputy said the arrests of Bonewit — and 46-year-old Christopher H. Lindsey — came after he received a tip that she had been "purchasing large amounts of methamphetamine and selling it in Blackford County."

The arrests came after a traffic stop in the drive-thru lane of the McDonald's restaurant in Hartford City.

Bonewit was determined to have a bag of 6 grams of meth, which she had allegedly made arrangement to sell, the court document said, while Lindsey was carrying a bag with 39 grams of the drug.

At the time of the traffic stop, Bonewit's young son — picked up by his mother a few minutes earlier at a local school — was in the vehicle. That led to the neglect charge, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison.

Lindsey faces the same three drug-related charges filed against Bonewit. Both are being held in the Blackford County jail under $3,500 cash bonds.

Bonewit told investigators she had been using meth for about three years.

Lindsey was convicted of dealing in cocaine or a narcotic drug in Grant County in 2018.

After Friday's arrests, investigators received a warrant to search a residence where Bonewit and Lindsey had been staying in Warren, about 18 miles north of Hartford City in Huntington County. They reported finding "a small of amount of methamphetamine, hypodermic needles, paraphernalia and scales."

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.