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Meth, stolen guns lead to arrest

A 21-year-old Elkins man remains in jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond Wednesday after police allegedly found three stolen guns, bags of methamphetamine and a collection of drug paraphernalia inside his residence Monday.

Zachary Dylan Fehrenbach was arrested on charges of receiving or transferring stolen goods, a felony, and prohibited acts A, also a felony, which is defined by West Virginia state code as the manufacture, delivery or posession with intent to deliver a narcotic drug.

According to the criminal complaint in the Randolph County Magistrate Clerk’s Office, Senior Trooper S.E. Hevener with the Elkins detachment of the West Virginia State Police received a stolen property complaint from Jack Painter at 10:42 a.m Monday.

Painter told Hevener that sometime between 7 p.m. Jan. 4 and 11 a.m. Jan. 5, someone had stolen his Husqvarna 30-06 long rifle with a wooden stock and a Bushnell scope. Painter said he’d “asked around town” and had consequently learned that Dominick Humphrey “may have been the person that took the firearm,” according to the complaint.

Hevener went to Humphrey’s residence to serve two unrelated outstanding arrest warrants. While Hevener was serving the warrants, Humphrey reportedly informed the officer that he “knew where some stolen guns and dugs were” in an apartment – Fehrenbach’s apartment – which is located along the 200 block of Second Street.

Hevener subsequently served a search warrant on Fehrenbach, and while searching his apartment found three bags of a substance “consistent with methamphetamine;” 12 firearms; drug paraphernalia; a “large amount” of ammunition; an open box of Glad sandwich bags and a partial roll of aluminum foil, the complaint states.

Hevener also noted he found a notebook containing “what appears to be ledgers depicting subjects that owed Mr. Fehrenbach money” and a small bag of empty pill capsules. Using the National Crime Information Center’s database, Hevener determined three of the guns – including Painter’s missing long rifle and scope – had been stolen, according to the report.

The other stolen guns included a Glock 27 .40-caliber handgun and a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver.

“The value of the three confirmed stolen guns is approximately $1,964,” Hevener wrote in the complaint.

Chief Magistrate Ben Shepler set bond at $100,000 cash only, and Fehrenbach remained in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail as of presstime.

The penalty for a conviction under prohibited acts A is imprisonment for one to 15 years, a fine of up to $25,000 or both.

Contact Katie Kuba by email at kkuba@theintermountain.com.

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