Gunfire in an East Side neighborhood Sunday has led police to find more than 40 pounds of marijuana in a Frank Avenue residence.

The New Castle police as a result arrested Michael Jon Ortiz, 35, and Alexis K. Williams, 23, both of 853 Frank Ave., and they seized a stolen gun, various packages of marijuana, ammunition, 276 vape pen cartridges, counterfeit money and other suspicious items, according to a criminal complaint.

A couple of police officers were in the upper lot of Cascade Park around 1:30 a.m. Sunday when they heard gunfire from a residential neighborhood nearby, they reported. They drove there and saw a man enter the back door of a house at 853 Frank Ave. 

The police knocked on the door and the lights inside went out, they reported. Ortiz a short time later opened the door and was ordered to secure his dog. The police reported smelling marijuana coming from inside the house and on Ortiz, the court papers state.

He told police he was shooting off fireworks, according to the report, and that Williams came to the front door, screaming. She refused to exit the house, and both she and Ortiz demanded to see a warrant, the report said.

The officers in securing the back yard found two spent shell casings and two bullet holes, but the report was not specific as to where the bullet holes were found.

The police obtained a search warrant for the house and when they went to serve it, Williams told police that they had friends over and that she wanted to shoot a gun and she went outside and shot it, the report said. She told police she went upstairs and put it into a shoebox.

Eight officers, including two from the Union Township Police Department, searched the house and found the marijuana and related items, as well as a Ruger .38-caliber handgun that had been reported stolen. Police noted in the report that the gun was the one used to shoot rounds outside.

Some of the marijuana was individually bagged inside of a gray laundry bag, police said.

Police said the total weight of the marijuana was only estimated because the department did not have a large enough scale to weigh it. 

Ortiz and Williams both are charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and recklessly endangering another person.

Ortiz additionally is charged with prohibited possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property.

Both were arraigned by District Judge Jennifer L. Nicholson, who committed them to the Lawrence County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond each.

‘;
var element = document.getElementById(“sub_message”);
element.appendChild(subMessage);
console.log(“Code Loaded!”);
} else {
var subMessage = document.createElement(‘div’);
subMessage.id = ‘sub-message-top’;
subMessage.class = ‘panel panel-default’;
subMessage.style.backgroundColor = ‘#eee’;
subMessage.style.borderRadius = ‘5px’;
subMessage.style.padding = ’10px’;
subMessage.style.marginTop = ’25px’;
subMessage.style.marginBottom = ’25px’;
subMessage.innerHTML =
‘