Dewayne Cecil Ingold

A panel of 12 jury members in Wetzel County Circuit Court handed down a guilty verdict of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver on Tuesday for Dewayne Cecil Ingold, 51, of 16745 County Nine Road, New Matamoras.

During the trial Prosecutor Tim Haught informed the court that on July 14, 2008, information was given to the New Martinsville Police Department by a Jason Lamp that Ingold was selling marijuana in the vicinity. A description of Ingold’s truck and Ohio license plate was given to the officers.

Lamp testified on April 1 in court that he had seen Ingold selling marijuana before and he himself had bought it from Ingold in the past, but he no longer uses marijuana. He stated Ingold tried to sell it to him, but he told the court he did not buy any. “I did not want nothing to do with it.” He gave a oral and written statement to Sergeant Kastigar. Lamp was subpoenaed for trial as a witness by the Prosecutor Tim Haught.

Sergeant Steve Kastigar of the New Martinsville Police Department told the court he was patrolling that day and spotted the truck at the 7-11 store in New Martinsville. Kastigar asked Ingold to come over to his patrol car and spoke with him. Kastigar noticed Ingold was keeping his hands in his pockets and acting nervous. Kastigar then patted Ingold down and found on him on a loaded marijuana pipe and over $600 cash. He then placed him under arrest and did a search on Ingold’s black Ford Fourtrac truck.

Upon entering the truck he noticed a black crochet bag in the middle of the two front seats. Kastigar told the court it contained a glass marijuana pipe. He also found a black case with held Ingold’s medical prescription bottles; digital scales, which he told the court had green leafy substance on it; hemostats; and cigarette rolling papers. He also told the court he did a further search of the vehicle and found in the back seat in another compartment of the cab well he pulled out a plastic container. Inside this container was a large amount of substance in a Ziploc baggy that smelled and appeared to him like marijuana. He called for backup, a tow truck, and laid the items out on the hood of his patrol car. Ingold was then transported to the station for questioning.

Haught called to the witness stand Detective Donnie Harris of the New Martinsville Police Department. Harris told the court he was called out to do an interview on Ingold. He told the court that he took a written statement from Ingold and he did a video tape statement that included his rights being read to him by Harris. This video tape was played for the court and jury to watch. In the video tape Ingold told Harris the marijuana was for his own personal use. He told Harris on the tape, “I don’t sell it.”

Haught asked Harris how many joints could you get out of this amount of marijuana. Harris replied “55 to 60.”

Prosecutor Haught presented items seized during the drug arrest to the court along with other items found in the search including a seed grinder, cigarette rolling machine, and faucet screens. Haught also told the court the marijuana was sent to the State Crime Lab and called to the witness stand Carrie Kirkpatrick, a Forensic Chemist, who testified it was marijuana. Haught asked her how much it weighed and she reported by the state crime lab scales it weighed 55.6 grams.

Haught asked Sgt. Kastigar when he was on the witness stand if he ever made any arrests with that amount Ingold had. Kastigar replied “no sir.” Katisgar reported he was in his authority to do a search.

Defense Attorney Jeremiah Gardner put Ingold on the witness stand where he asked Ingold about the scales he had in his truck. Ingold told the court, “I bought it to weigh my own marijuana, the people you buy it off of are not trustworthy.” Gardner asked Ingold why he used marijuana and Ingold stated if was for self-medicating for post traumatic disorder and his narcolepsy.

Prosecutor Haught asked Ingold who he bought the marijuana from.

Ingold answered, “I got it from Jason Lamp.” Haught then asked, “Didn’t Detective Harris ask you where you got it?” Haught went on to state that in the video Ingold never did tell Harris a full explanation of where he got it.

Haught called to the witness stand Sgt. Kastigar and asked him if Ingold told him he received the marijuana from Jason Lamp. Kastigar replied “no sir.”

After closing arguments, the jury went into closed session and returned with a guilty of possession with intent to delivery for Ingold.

At that time Judge David W. Hummel Jr. sentenced Ingold to the Northern Regional Jail until his sentencing date of May 18 at 9 a.m. He was escorted out the courtroom by law enforcement officers.