Liberty Gas Station at 1790 Swede Road, Blue Bell (Image courtesy of Google StreetView)
A man sleeping in his car while parked at a Blue Bell gas station’s pump is now facing felony charges after police said he was found with a gun and drugs.
Whitpain Township Police were dispatched to the Liberty Gas Station located at 1790 Swede Road, in Blue Bell on Wednesday, Jan. 15 around 6:49 p.m. for the report of a man sleeping in a parked sedan. Upon arrival, police said that they observed a black Chevrolet Malibu with Massachusetts tags parked “adjacent to a gas pump” with a sole occupant inside appearing to be asleep.
According to a police criminal complaint, police attempted to knock on the driver’s side window to wake the man, but he did not respond. Police said they eventually opened the driver’s side door and began to pull on the man’s left arm to wake him.
Inside the car, the police identified Tyron Jahfari Brown, 26, of the 1000 block of North Charlotte Street in Philadelphia, as its only occupant in the driver’s seat. According to the complaint, Brown woke speaking incoherently and had glassy and bloodshot eyes.
As Brown began to exit the vehicle, police said they observed a black firearm lying on the driver’s side floorboard next to Brown’s right foot, said the complaint. Police placed Brown in custody and recovered the firearm as evidence, they said.
A check of police systems showed Brown was not to carry a concealed firearm due to his past criminal record, as well as he did not have a permit, police said. The gun, a 9mm Ruger LC9, was traced to having been stolen out of Pottstown, said the complaint. Brown also had a suspended driver’s license, said police.
Police said that, during a pat down of Brown, police found a clear plastic baggy containing suspected crack cocaine in a front, left jacket pocket. It was also seized as evidence, according to police. In plain view on the man’s driver’s seat, police said, they also found a glass cylindrical pipe commonly used for to smoke narcotics.
A small black scale was also located by police in the front left jacket pocket, and it too was taken as evidence, said police. Brown was asked to and consented to taking field sobriety tests, which police said he did and “exhibited numerous cluses of impairment,” according to the criminal complaint.
Following field sobriety testing, police asked Brown to submit to a blood test, which he also agreed to do, according to police. Blood results have not yet been made available for publication.
Brown is facing charges including felony counts of possession of a prohibited firearm, receiving stolen property, and firearms not to be carried without a license, as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence (DUI), possession of a controlled substance, and use or possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as a summary offense for driving with privileges are suspended.
Brown is being held in county jail unable to post a $25,000 monetary bail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. before Magisterial District Judge Suzan Leonard.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
