Police: Gun seized; pair arrested
An Oklahoma man is behind bars on $100,000 bond after Adams Township police said they seized a loaded pistol from his car during a weekend traffic stop.
Wilfredo Calderon Velez, 33, of Oklahoma City does not have a carry license for the handgun, authorities said.
Police arrested Calderon Velez and his passenger, Kalena Romero Baez, 38, of Orlando, Fla., during a roving DUI patrol around 2:40 a.m. Sunday on Route 228. An officer stopped the car after noticing a faulty passenger side headlight, police said.The officer reported smelling marijuana coming from the vehicle. Police said Calderon Velez admitted to having recently smoked marijuana.Both occupants would not get out of the car when told to, according to charging documents. Calderon Velez also put his window up and Romero Baez put her window up and down, allegedly refusing to comply with police commands.The defendants eventually exited, but not before police fired pepper balls into the car's windshield and used batons to break out both rear side windows, documents said.A search of the vehicle, police said, turned up a .40-caliber pistol under the driver's seat. The gun had one live round in the chamber and 12 live rounds in the magazine. Velez admitted he did not have a concealed carry permit.Police said they also found suspected THC in the vehicle.Later, officers took Calderon Velez to UPMC Passavant in Cranberry Township for a blood draw. Toxicology results were not immediately available.District Judge Dave Kovach arraigned Calderon Velez on a felony charge of possession of a firearm without a carry license, misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and obstruction of law or other governmental function, and a summary charge of driving with a faulty headlight.Romero Baez was arraigned on a charge of obstruction of law or other governmental function. She was placed in the county prison on $10,000 bond following arraignment.Online court records did not indicate if Calderon Velez has an attorney. Ryan Helsel, a Butler County public defender, is listed as Romero Baez's attorney. Helsel did not immediately return a telephone call Wednesday.Preliminary hearings for the defendants are scheduled for Sept. 22 at the office of District Judge Wayne Seibel in Evans City.
