Two face charges after gun, pills and cash found in auto

OCALA - A traffic stop by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on Monday resulted in the arrest of two people for trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of a firearm and possession of prescription drug without a prescription, according to officials.

Trooper Anthony Dobosiewicz said in his report that he was driving west on State Road 40, approaching Northeast Eighth Avenue, when he saw a Pontiac almost hit another vehicle.

He stopped the Pontiac and, while approaching the vehicle, noticed a firearm on top of a woman’s purse. Also in the vehicle was $1,923 in cash, 65 Oxycodone 30 mg pills and 26 Roxicodone pills. The .380-caliber handgun was loaded, with one round in the chamber.

The driver, Ashleigh E. Johnson, 20, of Beverly Hills, told the trooper that when she picked up the passenger, Kenneth J. Ritchie, 23, of Ocala, he was in possession of the pills and cash. The gun was in the glove compartment and she said she didn’t know how it came to be out.

Ritchie refused to talk with the officer.

Both were charged with trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony and possession of prescription drugs without a prescription. Ritchie also had two outstanding arrest warrants, one for a violation of probation and the second for failure to appear on a trespassing charge.

- Austin L. Miller