Mt. Pleasant woman arrested with unloaded gun outside North Franklin bingo
A Mt. Pleasant Township woman was arrested by North Franklin Township police after she was found in a vehicle Friday night outside the fire hall on Sylvan Drive with an unloaded, stolen handgun during the volunteer fire department’s weekly bingo.
Sheree Renee Cox, 34, of 66 Clayton Court Road, also was found with narcotics that were not prescribed to her.
Police were called to the fire hall about 8:20 p.m. by a bingo worker who was reporting a woman acting suspiciously, going in and out of the fire hall during bingo who may have been using drugs.
When police arrived, they spotted a vehicle parked partially in the lot and partially on Sylvan. Cox, who was in the vehicle, was removed from it. She reportedly told police she had an unloaded handgun in her front pocket. Police removed the .380-caliber Keltec and secured it.
Cox told police she did not have a permit but believed she could carry it because it was unloaded. She told the officers it had been a gift about two weeks earlier from a man whose house she cleaned. Police checked its registration and verified with West Virginia state police at the Wellsburg station that it had been reported stolen in December 2011.
Police also spotted a pipe in plain view in her purse. Also in her purse were two pill bottles with the labels, partially removed. The bottles appear to contain Hydrocodone and Diazapam pills. She allegedly told police the same man who gave her the gun gave her the pills. Police talked with him and he said he did not give her the gun or medication.
Police found a magazine for the gun in the vehicle of Cox’s mother, who had been inside the fire hall playing bingo.
Cox was arraigned before District Judge Mark Wilson on charges of receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, altering a label on a prescription bottle, possession of paraphernalia and three counts of possession of a controlled substance.
She was placed in Washington County Jail on $10,000 bond. Cox is scheduled for a Dec. 22 preliminary hearing before District Judge Robert Redlinger.