2 charged with having gun, Mason jar filled with marijuana buds

A couple accused of having marijuana packaged for sale and a gun with the serial number filed down was released from jail Monday on bond.

According to Floyd County Jail records and Rome Police Department reports:

Jonathan Jerrod Heath, 28, of 122 Linden St., was the driver and Kelsey Kianna Brown, 22, of 1970 Tolbert Town Road in Rockmart, was the passenger in the Sunday night incident that started with a reported assault at the Maple Quick Stop.

A man said he was hit in the head outside the store and the two assailants fled in a Nissan Sentra. He gave the license number of the car Heath was driving and police stopped the couple in the lot of Velocity Gym on Second Avenue.

Heath got out of the car with his hands in the air and immediately began telling police they were not involved in the incident, which he and Brown had witnessed. Officers smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.

Heath’s license was suspended for failing to appear in court twice and he was arrested.

When the car was searched, police found a blue backpack containing a loaded Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun with altered identification, an extended magazine, clear plastic bags containing suspected marijuana, a Mason jar with suspected marijuana buds, more bags, scales and syringes.

Meanwhile, some members of Heath’s family arrived on the scene and began filming the incident. A woman claiming to be his mother said she didn’t believe what police had found in the car. When they showed her the backpack, she said the car did not belong to Heath.

Officers charged both Heath and Brown with the felonies possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and criminal use of a weapon with an altered identification mark. They’re also facing a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug-related objects. Brown tried to take sole ownership of everything in the vehicle but she could not describe everything in the backpack. When she was searched at the jail, a large bag of marijuana was found on her.

Heath is additionally charged with driving on a suspended license.