A Newark woman is facing possible drug and obstruction charges after an encounter with an Independence County Sheriff’s Department deputy on Old River Road in the county.
Deputy Jordan Turner was dispatched to the area on Sept. 20 about a pickup with a male and a female occupant partially blocking the roadway. Turner said the couple wasn’t around the vehicle when he got there, according to the incident report, so he used his PA system in his patrol vehicle to try to make contact. When he was unsuccessful in the effort twice, he then called for a wrecker to remove the truck.
About that time, Turner noted a man appeared out of the treeline and went back into the woods. As he was advising dispatch, the deputy said a dog and then a female appeared out of the same treeline and came toward the vehicle and Turner.
The female told Turner she had been fishing and was alone with her dog. Turner said he then informed the female, identified in the report as Ruby Renee Bell, 32, that he saw the man, and it had already been reported that a man and a woman were spotted near the vehicle.
He also informed her that he was placing her into custody for obstructing governmental operations. Turner said Bell then advised him that the man had run off and left her, and she had no idea who he was, according to the report.
Turner said Bell began to resist being taken into custody, but she was eventually placed in the deputy’s patrol unit.
Turner said at about that time, the male subject, identified as Stephen Kyle Patterson, 35, walked to the scene.
Patterson told the deputy he and Bell, whom he identified as his “girlfriend,” had been fishing, and he was just coming back to the truck. Turner said he did not find any warrants for Patterson, so he was advised that he did not need to be in the area and was released.
Turner noted in the report he also checked a backpack that Bell had acknowledged was her bag and, in it, found a tin which contained a “crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine.” He also found a glass smoking device located in the center floorboard area of the vehicle.
Possible charges that Bell could be facing include possession of meth, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental operations.
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