The following reports were compiled from police reports released by Early Police Chief David Mercer and Brown County Jail records.
On Friday at about 11:30 am, Officer Pattimae Furry received a call that a possible intoxicated driver left a convenience store. Officer Furry stopped the vehicle after she observed it swerving in the traffic lane. Officer Furry interviewed the driver and learned that he had taken several pain killer medications. Furry performed a series of field sobriety tests on the driver and then placed him under arrest for DWI.
Officer Furry also located a pill bottle containing soma and hydrocodone pills and a prescription for the medication could not be provided. The driver identified as 47-year-old Richard Chancellor of Early was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and DWI. He was taken to the Brown County Jail after a blood test was taken at Brownwood Regional Medical Center.
In an unrelated case on Friday at 11:30 pm, Officer Steven Means and Sgt Shawn Dibrell were patrolling in the 200 block of Early Blvd when they observed and stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation. Once the vehicle was stopped, they interviewed the driver and passenger identified as 32-year-old Misty Ann Lopez and 26-year-old Ronnie Cervantes Lara both from Brownwood.
The driver mentioned they had a gun in the car and officers located the gun and began to investigate their possession of it. Both Lopez and Lara were arrested for felon in possession of a firearm after learning both had felony criminal histories. Officers ran a check on the gun and learned the gun had been reported stolen to the Brown County Sheriff’s office several years ago.
