HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 27-year-old Hutchinson man convicted of criminal possession of a firearm and leaving the scene of an accident failed to show in court Friday for sentencing leading to Judge Trish Rose to issue a bench warrant.
Christopher Ford was convicted on the two charges after he left the scene of an accident on January 15, 2013. He was apparently driving on east 4th, and lost control and rolled the vehicle he was driving. He was not injured, but his passenger Joshua Rund suffered a broken neck according to previous testimony in court. Ford was apparently concerned over the location of a gun he had, and when it couldn’t be located he ran away from the accident. It’s illegal for him to have a weapon because of previous felony convictions.
He was arrested in February of last year for being in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, but was also at a home where he had been ordered not to go to, resulting in a charge of criminal trespass. This occurring in the 500 block of East 9th. That case is still pending.
Because he failed to appear on Friday, Judge Rose issued a bench warrant of $2,500.
Ford has a previous conviction for theft from 1994, but was on corrections for possession of drugs from 2009, and a burglary case from 2010. He had been ordered to prison for a corrections violation by Judge Joe McCarville, but has since been released.