Man found with drugs, stolen vehicle after alleged false report; woman charged with lying to police
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By Dave Taylor
A Lewisport man is facing a long list of charges after police were called to his home to retrieve a woman’s car but a search turned up meth, marijuana, a loaded handgun and a stolen vehicle, but the woman has been charged with false reporting, adding confusion as to what really happened in the incident.
Brandon Lee Ress, 34, was charged last week after Ashley Renfrow told police Ress had her Ford Focus and she didn’t know him or why he had it. The search turned up the drugs and a stolen car out of Owensboro, but now police say Renfrow lied about knowing Ress.
“The story that she had was she had been in jail and while she was incarcerated during that time her car went missing and that a friend had called and told her that the car was at this residence,” said Lewisport Police Chief John Garner. “So we get over there and she said that she didn’t know anything about this person or why they had her car or anything.”
Garner arrived on scene and saw two Ford Focuses, and when he ran the VIN on the other car it came back stolen out of Owensboro.
“That’s when I called for another unit because I couldn’t get any response from the door but I knew they were there,” Garner said.
“Aaron (Emmick) from the sheriff’s office came down and when he went around back he noticed a water leak and went around there and then you could you smell the marijuana was coming out of a vent,” he said.
Garner stayed at the house while Emmick went to obtain a search warrant, and upon his return, a search turned up marijuana plants and methamphetamine, as well as materials used to manufacture meth and a loaded handgun, along with someone else’s credit card.
As of Wednesday afternoon Garner said he wasn’t sure how the stolen Focus got from Owensboro to Lewisport, or when or where it was stolen.
“I don’t know when it was reported stolen but he had started stripping it down,” he said. “The wheels and tires were gone off of it and some body items were off of it that we could see.”
The car wasn’t hidden, he said, and was on blocks within sight of the roadway.
Ress was charged with unauthorized use of Renfrow’s car, but that charge might not stick in court.
“She said that he didn’t have permission to have her vehicle, she didn’t know why he had it and acted like she didn’t know him,” Garner said. “But after we checked into it we found out she did know him and… they had actually supposedly traded vehicles earlier in the year but neither one of them did the paperwork so it turned into what it was that day.”
Renfrow was cited Wednesday afternoon on a misdemeanor count of false reporting.
Ress is lodged in the Breckinridge County Detention Center in Hardinsburg on felony charges of trafficking in marijuana, eight ounces to five pounds, cultivating marijuana, five plants or more, possession of meth, and possession of a meth precursor. Other charges include possession of marijuana, receiving stolen property under $10,000, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and theft of a stolen credit card. Many of these charges will be firearm enhanced due to the loaded handgun, meaning the penalties could increase.
Garner said he expects more charges and potentially more arrests, depending on what they learn about the stolen vehicle out of Owensboro.
