A Troy woman faces multiple charges including felony identity theft after she provided the Social Security number and name of her friend to officers of the Bellefontaine Police Department investigating a disabled car Sunday.
Chelsea D. Higbee, 32, was lodged in the Logan County Jail and faces additional charges of possession of drug abuse instruments, possession of drug paraphernalia and operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. She was issued traffic citations for multiple driving under suspension violation, failure to drive in the marked lanes of the road, no head lights and failure to control.
At 12:05 a.m., dispatchers were informed by a motorist a black car had come to a stop and stalled at Garfield and Columbus Avenues. The motorist had followed the car as it traveled eastward into the city.
This witness reported the car was all over the road and into a ditch before coming to a stop. It driver, later identified as Higbee, would turn on the hazard lights and switch the headlights off and on again as she drove.
Officers found the car still running but with smoke pouring from underneath the front hood. They also observed severe front end damage with clumps of grass in the grill. There was significant damage to the driver’s side of the car and to the rear end.
Higbee was out of the car when officers arrived and told them she was beaten by her boyfriend at a residence in the Indian Lake area. She claimed she had to flee but the boyfriend followed in his pickup truck and used the pickup to push her off the road at one point in her flight to Bellefontaine. Officers did not find any paint transfer marks to support her claim.
They noted an odor of alcohol while speaking with her and that her pupils were pinpoint and had no reaction to an officer’s flashlight. They also observed white powder residue in her nose.
She was unsteady on her feet and Bellefontaine squad was called to check her condition. She informed medics that she had not hit her head or injured herself in a crash. She refused further treatment.
Officers, meanwhile, spotted bottles of pills on the passenger floorboard and a hypodermic needle. Higbee said the pills were a prescription for her but the needle was not hers even though she admitted to using fentanyl in the past.
Field sobriety test indicated she was impaired by alcohol and possibly drugs. Higbee was taken to the Logan County Jail and booked under friend’s name.
She agreed to provide a urine sample for laboratory analysis.
Officers soon learned her real identity while taking inventory of the impounded car. They found a wallet with Higbee’s driver’s license along with more needles, elastic bands with dried blood that appeared to be used for drug injections and prescription pill bottles with Higbee’s.
When confronted about her true identity, she admitted using a friend’s name who shares the same first name with a similar build and five months younger.
Her complaint regarding an assault by her boyfriend was turned over to deputies of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.
Roommate lodged after fight
William E.Z. Hampton, 18, of 824 Euclid St., was charged Monday with assault and underage consumption of alcohol while a girlfriend of his roommate, Harley McClain, 19, of Ansonia, was charged with assault after a 10:50 p.m. incident at the residence.
Jonathan Coulter, also of 824 Euclid, told officer Hampton came to residence and began arguing with Coulter and others who had gathered outside on a porch.
McClain punched Hampton in the face, who in turn began to fight Coulter. Coulter had visible injuries to his face and neck.
Hampton was lodged in jail while McClain was issued a summons. Hampton admitted consuming alcohol but would not say where he got it.