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Three people charged after drugs, guns, swords found in car

KINGWOOD — Three people were charged Friday after police found drugs, guns, knives and swords in a car with a man wanted for violating parole.

Christopher Lee Lyons, 36, of Newburg, was charged with possession of meth with intent to deliver, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and having concealed weapons. There was also a warrant for his arrest on a parole violation.

Lyons was in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Friday afternoon with no bond on the parole violation and $35,000 bond on the new charges.

Christina Louise Bryant, 38, of Albright, and Amanda Marie Riley, 37, of Terra Alta, were each charged with possession of meth with intent to deliver and prohibited person with concealed weapons. They were in Tygart Friday in lieu of $35,000 bond each.

According to a criminal complaint by Preston Sheriff’s Cpl. C.R. Cline, a vehicle with a loud exhaust and high beam headlights approached him in Terra Alta, then turned onto W.Va. 7. Cline could see the registration was expired, and a check revealed no matching records.

He stopped the car, driven by Bryant. All said they had no guns or knives. An ID check revealed Lyons was wanted for a parole violation.

Bryant had no proof of insurance and agreed to a search of the vehicle. Riley said she had a firearm in the back, and Deputy J.T. Knotts saw a straw with what he suspected was drug residue on the driver’s side.

A search of the vehicle turned up multiple needles, Suboxone strips, smoking devices, digital scales, $985 cash and an AR 15.

The three were taken into custody, and once at the sheriff’s office, a bag with smaller bags of meth, weighing a total of 14.33 grams, was found.

When interviewed, they said the firearm was put in the car by Riley and hidden in the backseat with Lyons, then put between the rear seat and a trunk that contained multiple swords and knives, the complaint says. The loaded magazine was in Bryant’s purse.

According to police, Lyons was convicted in 2017 of manufacturing meth, and Bryant has multiple felony convictions.

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