-
The Ross County Grand Jury returned two open indictments during its Friday session.
-
The first of those involves a case of carrying concealed weapons while under disability. According to the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office, an officer with the Chillicothe Police Department was dispatched to an address at 10 North Bridge Street, on June 23rd of this year, in regard to a suspicious vehicle.
-
The officer located the vehicle, and observed it commit a traffic violation, at which time a traffic stop was conducted. The officer then made contact with the vehicle’s owner, Kelly Jo Adams, formerly Kelly Jo Courtney, 46, of Three Locks Road, who was riding in the vehicle as a passenger.
-
A background check revealed an active warrant against Ms. Adams and she was taken into custody. An inventory of the vehicle was conducted and officers located numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia in addition to a loaded .32 caliber revolver found underneath the passenger side seat where Ms. Adams was sitting.
-
Ms. Adams was found to be under weapons disability as the result of a prior 2012 drug conviction from the Licking County Court of Common Pleas. She was subsequently charged with a single fourth-degree felony charge of carrying concealed weapons and a single third-degree felony charge of possession of weapons under disability.
-
If convicted on the charge carrying concealed weapon, Ms. Adams could be sentenced to up to 18 months incarceration with a fine of $5,000. If found guilty on the charge of having weapons under disability, she faces a potential sentence of up to 36 months with a $10,000 fine.
-
-
The other open indictment returned by Jury members on Friday involves a case of drug possession and trafficking. In that case, a Trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol had conducted a traffic stop of a Buick LeSabre on Mount Tabor Road, due to the vehicle’s overly tinted windows. This was on April 25th of this year.
-
The Trooper made contact with the driver, James M. Harding Jr., 42, of Toad Hollow Road, Chillicothe, and observed suspected marijuana lying in the vehicle’s center console. Mr. Harding was then ordered to exit the vehicle. However, as Mr. Harding was exiting the vehicle, he attempted to reach back into the car in an effort to retrieve the suspected pot.
-
Mr. Harding is then alleged to have resisted arrest, dropping the marijuana onto the ground. A search of the vehicle revealed a set of digital scales and two baggies containing what would later test positive as a total of 13.79 grams of methamphetamine. The bags had been prepared for sale, and Mr. Harding is alleged to have informed the trooper that selling the meth was his intention.
-
As a result of that incident, Mr. Harding has been indicted on a single third-degree felony charge of aggravated possession of drugs and a third-degree count of aggravated trafficking in drugs.
-
If convicted, Mr. Harding faces a jail sentence of up to 36 months with a fine of $10,000.
-
-
The Ross County Grand Jury was presented with a total of 17 cases during its Friday session. All but one of those cases were returned, but only these two were open to the public.
-
The Ross County Grand Jury will meet for its next session on Friday, August 16th.