Gainesville man faces meth, firearm charges after search warrant execution

An Ozark County man is facing multiple felony charges following a search of his home that reportedly turned up methamphetamine, a handgun and ammunition.

According to the probable cause prepared by Ozark County Deputy Gannon Moss, officers executed a search warrant at the Gainesville-area home of Richard Dege in search of an AR-15 firearm or any other items related to that style weapon on Sept. 29.

Inside his bedroom, officers reportedly found a KelTec .32 automatic handgun, multiple rounds of ammunition for that firearm and two plastic bags with a white crystal-like substance in both. They were field-tested and tested positive for amphetamines, the report says. 

Inside one of the baggies, officers say they found a scale that also field-tested positive for amphetamines. 

Dege reportedly told the officers that the firearm belonged to his father, but the methamphetamine was for his own personal use. He said his preferred method of ingestion is snorting the drug up his nose. 

It is illegal for Dege to have possession of a firearm based on a 1993 felony conviction. The complaint in the case says he was convicted then of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the Niagra County Supreme Court in New York. 

In the Ozark County case, he is charged with three felonies: unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and unlawful use of a weapon (possessing a felony-level controlled substance and a weapon at the same time). He also has a misdemeanor charge filed against him for unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia involving the digital scale. 

He was transported to the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office that night, fingerprinted and released. A warrant was issued Oct. 5 and he was arrested Oct. 8 and arraigned and released on supervised bond the next day. He was scheduled to reappear for a criminal setting before Judge Gross Tuesday. Results of the hearing were not available at presstime.