Driver Ashley M. Johnson, 34, of Louisville, Ky., was charged with felony counts of possession of methamphetamine, tampering with evidence and conveyance of illegal narcotics into a detention facility related to a traffic stop Saturday, March 25, in West Liberty.
Her passenger, Stephen C. Robnett, 39, also of Louisville, Ky., was charged with a felony count of weapons under disability and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug abuse instruments.
Deputies of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office on patrol about 7:25 p.m. on south Detroit Street near Runkle Street observed a vehicle with excessively dark window tint and a dark tint cover on the rear license plate that made the rear plate difficult to read.
Deputies initiated a stop with the vehicle and spoke with the driver, who deputies noticed was excessively nervous. A West Liberty Police Department officer also responded to the scene.
While speaking with Robnett, deputies an odor of marijuana coming from his person.
He stated he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day and deputies noted he showed signs of impairment.
When asked for consent to search the vehicle, Johnson denied deputies’ request. K9 Thor was deployed for a free air sniff around the vehicle, and the canine alerted on the vehicle.
During a probable cause search, deputies located a 9mm pistol under the driver’s seat containing nine rounds in the magazine.
Also during the search of the vehicle, deputies located glass pipes with methamphetamine residue; a BB gun; digital scales; a butane torch; clear baggie with suspected marijuana; a glass pipe with a powdery residue; and an empty pistol magazine.
Robnett informed deputies that “everything is mine, the meth pipes, the gun.”
Both defendants were placed under arrest and transported to the Logan County Jail.
During the booking process at the jail, the body scanner found Johnson to have a foreign object inside her body cavity. She told corrections officers that she had a “container of weed”inside her. She reportedly pulled out the item and threw it in the toilet. Corrections officers seized marijuana buds and a baggie with a crystal-like substance in the toilet.
Man lodged for improperly discharging firearm
Logan H. Fischer, 34, of 156 N. Oak St., was charged with improperly discharging a firearm into or at a habitation relating to an incident at his residence Thursday evening, March 24.
About 9:40 p.m., dispatchers advised all Logan County units to start for the residence on a report of a man shooting a firearm inside the home. The caller stated a man fired approximately six shots inside the residence.
When deputies and other law enforcement arrived, they said Fischer opened the window and yelled that no one was shooting inside the house, so law enforcement should not have been called.
An officers of the Washington Township Police Department spoke to the defendant over the patrol car’s PA system, advising him to come out of the house with his hands up.
Fischer reportedly came out onto the porch and deputies conducted a pat down search of his person.
While speaking with deputies and officers, Fischer initially denied shooting a firearm inside his home, saying gunshot holes in the walls were “from a previous owner,” but then began speaking about shooting the gun “straight up” in the residence.
Deputies and officers were able to retrieve a loaded 9mm carbine rifle from underneath a mattress in a bedroom. While searching the home, they observed multiple bullet holes in the walls of the home, which were consistent with the 9mm ammunition.
Deputies went door-to-door in the area to make sure that no one inside any of the nearby residences were struck by the bullets, especially several residences along north Oak Street, which were in the general path of a bullet that struck the bathroom and window. No injuries were reported.
Fischer was placed under arrest and transported to the jail. Deputies said he also showed signs of impairment.
Deputies obtained a search warrant for the residence and returned to the scene for further processing. They said a .25 caliber handgun also was located inside a dresser in the same bedroom where the rifle was located.
Deputies sent a report to the Logan County Prosecutor’s Office for review and consideration of an additional charge of using weapons while intoxicated.