CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A man was cited for a traffic violation and released after officers found illegal drugs and a firearm during a traffic stop in Chillicothe.
According to the police department, officers while on patrol observed a red BMW on Douglas Avenue stop after the stop sign and stop bar when making a right turn onto Eastern Avenue. Police conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle on Eastern Avenue near South Watt Street as the vehicle turned into a driveway.
In the report, the officer said, “I observed the driver open the driver’s side door and place something under the vehicle in an attempt to conceal it. I ordered the driver to stay in the vehicle and approached the driver’s side and observed a silver handgun on the ground. The driver identified himself as Christopher Wagoner.”
The man, when asked by police about the gun, said that a woman he had just dropped off had thrown it into the vehicle.
Wagoner was then searched by officers, who found “two clear plastic bags containing a white rock-like substance.” The man, officers said, admitted that the substance found was crack cocaine.
Police, after further investigation, discovered that Wagoner was a convicted felon and, under Ohio law, was not permitted to possess a firearm.
The weapon and the drugs were confiscated and placed as evidence.
He was then given a citation for the traffic violation and released. Additional charges, police say, are pending analysis of the suspected drugs by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and a review of the incident by the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office for weapons under disability charges.
