A Bellefontaine woman has been charged with stealing an elderly woman’s medications from her purse.
The Union County Grand Jury has indicted Ashley Lynn Reed, 41, of Bellefontaine, charging her with one count each of theft of drugs and theft from a person in a protected class.
According to court documents, on Feb. 16, an elderly woman approached a police officer at a local store with a pharmacy.
“The victim told police she thought she had lost her purse,” said Union County Prosecutor Dave Phillips said.
The woman told the officer she lost her wallet, cellphone and prescriptions in the purse.
Police helped the woman look around but did not find the purse. Eventually investigators looked at surveillance tape from the store. They saw the woman leave her purse on one of the store’s motorized carts. The video then shows another woman going through the purse. The woman, later identified as Reed, can be seen taking the purse, removing items, then discarding the purse.
Investigators were able to get the license plate number of the car the woman got into and left in.
“Through the follow up investigation they were able to identify the woman,” Phillips said.
If convicted, Reed could face as many six years in prison.
Also indicted were:
– Michael Lamar Mason, 35, of Barbursville, West Virginia. Mason is charged with one count of possession of marijuana.
According to court documents, at about 5:30 p.m., May 5, Mason was driving a white Nissan Altima on Route 31 in Union Township when he was pulled over for allegedly driving 67 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone. The trooper reported that as he approached the vehicle, he could smell “raw marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.”
“A probable cause search based on the odor of raw marijuana resulted in a seizure of felony amount of marijuana that weighed approximately 317 grams,” according to court documents.
If convicted, Mason could face as many as 12 months in prison.
– Chad Edwin Welch, 46, of 631 E. Fourth St. and Rheann Sierra Turner, 35, of Marion.
Welch is charged with two counts of aggravated possession of drugs and one count each of having weapons under disability and trafficking in cocaine. The charges carry a specification that Welch would be forced to forfeit money and the gun used in the alleged crime.
Turner is charged with one count of trafficking in cocaine.
According to court documents, in October 2023, Welch was incarcerated at the Tri-County Regional Jail.
During a series of recorded phone calls from jail, Welch and Turner discussed, sometimes coded and other times not, things like guns, drugs, money and other things connected to Welch’s alleged drug operation.
“Turner said she would ‘keep the business going’ while Mr. Ward was in jail,” Phillips said.
He said there was conversation about items being stored in a safe.
The Union County Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Task Force was made aware of the conversations and began an investigation.
When investigators searched the home they found a gun, cocaine, psilocin and cash.
Because Welch is already a convicted felon, he is prohibited from owning or having guns.
If convicted, Welch could face as many as eight years in prison. Turner could face as many as 12 months in prison if convicted.
– Ryan James King, 38, of Columbus. King is charged with nine counts of criminal nonsupport of dependents.
According to court documents, between June 2019 and February, King did not pay court-ordered child support for his child who was 4 years old in 2019. According to court documents, King owes more than $21,700 in back child support. Phillips said child support enforcement officials work to get payment without filing charges but sometimes feel they cannot get compliance or support for the child without criminal charges.
If convicted, King could face as many as nine years in prison.