An Ocala man was arrested Thursday on numerous drug charges and for possessing a gun as a convicted felon after deputies finally opened a locked safe inside the truck he was riding in.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office was investigating a 911 call of a man entering the Roadway Inn motel, located at 5001 E. Silver Springs Blvd., with a black handgun and looking for an unknown man. The caller said the man left in a red Ford pickup truck with a woman driving.
Deputies pulled over a red 2014 Ford F-150 matching that description in the Wal-Mart parking lot on E Silver Springs Boulevard and removed the passenger, 33-year-old Echols Alcott Hansbarger, due to the report of him being armed. Echols said he and the driver had just left the Roadway Inn after trying to find someone who owed him money, a sheriff’s office report states.
Hansbarger, who lives at 5575 SE 44th Ave., denied being in possession of a firearm, saying he couldn’t have one because he’s a convicted felon. He said the truck belonged to his mother, and to his knowledge, there was not a firearm inside it.
During questioning, deputies noticed the smell of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Hansbarger said he had recently smoked marijuana in the truck and there was a small amount in the plastic grab handle. Deputies uncovered a green leafy substance wrapped inside white paper, the report says.
While searching the truck, deputies found a grey security safe in the front passenger floor board where Hansbarger had been seated. Hansbarger said the safe was not his and he was unsure what was in it. He said the safe was his mother’s and he didn’t have access to it because she has the key, the report says.
Deputies contacted Hansbarger’s mother, who said she didn’t own the safe and wasn’t sure what was inside it. She said Hansbarger and the driver have been in possession of the truck for about three months, the report says.
The key for the safe was located on a ring of keys that was found inside the center console of the vehicle. Upon unlocking the safe, deputies found a black Hi-Point semi-automatic handgun, multiple hypodermic needles, three plastic bags containing a white powdery substance, a plastic container that contained a small crystal rock substance, a plastic container with four round pink prescription pills and 9mm ammunition.
The white powdery substance and white crystal substance both field-tested positive for cocaine, the leafy substance tested positive for marijuana and a pill identifier search identified the pills as Alprazolam, the report says.
Hansbarger was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription (Alprazolam), possession of cocaine, possession of not more than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of drug equipment and possession of a weapon and ammunition by a convicted felon. He was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he was released Friday on $16,000 bond. He’ll appear in Marion County Court on March 26.