Currence

BUCKHANNON — A Randolph County man is behind bars after a traffic stop led to the discovery of a loaded handgun in the vehicle.

Shane Eric Currence, 44, of Mill Creek, is charged with two counts of prohibited person concealing firearm, a felony, and driving while license suspended-third offense, a misdemeanor.

He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $31,500 cash or surety bond.

According to the criminal complaint, prepared by Patrolman Cole Bender of the Buckhannon Police Department, on Sunday, at approximately 2:22 p.m. the officer observed a white 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander traveling toward Cleveland Avenue on Fifth Street in Buckhannon.

Bender recalled seeing Currence driving the vehicle the day before, and later learned his license was suspended due to unpaid citations, the complaint states. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle in the Goodwill parking lot, and asked Currence to step out of the vehicle.

Bender writes that he asked Currence if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, and Currence allegedly said “she might have something in there I don’t know,” and then “there could be a weapon in there.”

Currence allegedly consented to a search of the vehicle, and officers located “a loaded SCCY 9mm handgun… stuffed between the driver’s seat and center console,” the complaint states.

Officers later learned that Currence had a prior conviction for delivery of a controlled substance in 2012, and two prior convictions for driving while license suspended, in 2017 and 2004, according to the complaint.