An Ocala woman with a lengthy criminal record was arrested after drugs and a stolen handgun were found in her vehicle recently.
Ashley Jane Kelty, 29, of 4325 SE 24th Terrace, was charged with grand theft of a firearm, possession of a weapon by a convicted Florida felon, driving with a suspended license (third or subsequent violation), possession of a controlled substance without a prescription (felony), altering or destroying physical evidence, possession of drug equipment, use or display of a weapon during a felony while under indictment, trafficking in amphetamine or methamphetamine (14 grams or more), possession of cocaine, and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana.
Jail records show Kelty with six prior arrests since 2014 on charges including child abuse, resisting an officer without violence, simple battery, fleeing and eluding law enforcement, giving a false ID to law enforcement, domestic battery, criminal mischief, and multiple drug-related offenses.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a suspicious vehicle at the intersection of 24th Terrace and 40th Street Road. A caller reported a dark SUV was sitting at the stop sign and had not moved in about 30 minutes, according to the sheriff’s office report.
Kelty was in the driver’s seat when the deputy arrived. As the deputy approached the vehicle, Kelty put it in park and turned it off. She said she was arguing with her boyfriend and stopped at the stop sign so she didn’t disturb anyone. The deputy could smell the strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle and observed a “blunt” with a green leafy substance sticking out of the end sitting on an ash tray in the center console. Asked how much marijuana was in the vehicle, Kelty said, “just the blunt,” the report said.
The deputy conducted a probable-cause search of the vehicle and found a magazine from a firearm in the passenger door and a Springfield XD .45-caliber handgun on the rear passenger floorboard. A small black bookbag found behind the driver’s seat contained a Ruger SR 22 handgun, along with a glass pipe with white residue and two black scales, according to the report.
A white handbag found on the back floorboard behind the center console contained a clear crystal substance, a green leafy substance, a white powder substance and several multi-colored pills. Several boxes of ammunition and two jars with green leafy residue were found inside clothing on the back seat, the report said.
The clear crystal substance field tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed about 21 grams. The green leafy substance, which weighed 23 grams, tested positive for TCH. The six pills that were found tested positive for MDMA. The white powder substance tested positive for cocaine and weighed about three grams, and the residue on the glass pipe tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the report.
The Springfield XD .45-calibe handgun was previously reported stolen out of Marion County. After reading Kelty her Miranda warning, the deputy asked her where the “blunt” was that was previously on the center console. Kelty said she ate it. She said some of the items in the vehicle belonged to her, but she denied the firearms and narcotics were hers, the report said.
Kelty was taken to the Marion County Jail, where she was held on $67,000 bond. She’ll appear in Marion County Court on March 2.