Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A call from the county jail led police to the marijuana and additional guns.
GIRARD — A city man and his 22-year-old girlfriend are facing felony charges after they were found with weapons and drugs, police said.
Derek Hahn, no age given, of Gordon Street, is charged with felony carrying a concealed weapon and illegal possession of a firearm. His bond has been set at $35,000. He is due in Girard Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing April 10.
Jennifer Hovis, 22, of Second Street, is charged with felony trafficking in marijuana and misdemeanor permitting drug abuse. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Police had stopped and searched Hahn, who reports say already had a past felony conviction from a weapons violation, earlier this month. Police were searching for another man at the Second Street home that Hahn was visiting. Officers found bullets in his pockets.
According to police reports, officers searched the car Hahn was driving and found more ammunition as well as a loaded .38-caliber handgun.
Reports say Hahn made two phone calls — one to his mother and another to Hovis — while sitting in the county jail. The calls were recorded by jail personnel.
During those calls Hahn asked the women to retrieve and hide three additional guns from police.
Hahn’s mother later turned over two guns to police at her Gordon Street residence. She told officers that she and Hovis brought the guns to the house from a house in Youngstown, on Hahn’s behalf.
Hovis later gave police permission to search her home for any weapons. There police found 16 individually wrapped bags of marijuana in weights “consistent with an amount commonly sold at street level.”
Police also found a scale, pipe for smoking marijuana and a bulletproof vest. Another gun was found during a second search of the home.
jgoodwin@vindy.com