Law enforcement arrested a Rivesville man involved in a single-vehicle accident on Goshen Road over the weekend after allegedly finding drugs and paraphernalia in his vehicle and belongings.
Monongalia County Sheriff’s deputies were notified of the accident at about 3:55 p.m. and, once on scene, observed a red Ford Ranger in a driveway laying on its driver’s side, a criminal complaint said.
The deputies spoke with the driver of the pickup, identified as John A. Shipley, Jr., 50, of Rivesville, who had complaints of pain in his right arm and was not able to provide a statement on how the accident occurred.
According to the complaint, the deputies detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from the area where Shipley was sitting. He was sitting on a black tool box that had fallen out of the truck and had a gray duffel bag sitting near him.
While the deputies processed the scene, Mon EMS arrived on scene and loaded Shipley into an ambulance to be transported to the hospital for treatment.
While being prepared for transport, Shipley stated he needed his gray duffel bag to go with him. A member of the fire department picked up the bag to bring to Shipley and immediately called for the two deputies, said the complaint.
The firefighter was able to detect a smell coming from the bag and believed it to be marijuana. The deputies seized the bag and secured it inside their cruiser.
When trying to retrieve the vehicle’s documents, deputies found a smoking device laying on the driver’s floorboard in plain view. According to the complaint, the device had what appeared to be burnt marijuana in the device. The device was also seized and secured in the cruiser.
Deputies also found an envelope on the ground near the driver’s side of the vehicle which contained an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency. The complaint said the envelope was originally taken into the deputies’ custody for safekeeping, but was later seized as evidence of a crime.
Deputies obtained a search warrant for the gray duffel bag after returning to the station and upon examination they seized “13 grams of a green leafy substance, 1 gram of a white powder, a U.S. dollar bill that housed white powder, a cut straw with white powder residue, a digital electronic scale, a Ruger Security-9 Handgun, and a Ruger 9mm magazine with 8 Ruger 9mm bullets,” the complaint said.
Shipley was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
He entered a plea of not guilty in Monongalia County Magistrate Court on Sept. 13 and has been released from custody after posting bond.
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