Gore Duo Faces Weapons, Drug Charges

Two convicted felons from Gore were arrested Aug. 25 on weapons and drug charges.

Records show that Tyler Wilson Hediger, 30, and Amber Nicole Spradling, 31, were charged with felony counts of possession of a firearm after conviction or during probation and cultivation of a controlled dangerous substance, as well as a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Hediger was additionally charged with possession of a sawed-off shotgun, also a felony.

According to reports, a Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Department deputy was called to a home near the smoke shop north of Gore because of a possible domestic dispute involving a woman being held against her will.

As he approached the home’s front door, the deputy saw a spent shotgun shell on the porch. Looking through the glass storm door, the deputy could see what appeared to be a rifle and an unusually short shotgun missing its stalk and with tape covering the hand grip.

Dispatch advised the deputy that when the reporting party, Wyatt Lewis, arrived to pick up the female victim, he heard what he believed to be a gunshot. Lewis told officers he left the residence and immediately called 911.

In response to the deputy’s knock on the door, a man identified as James Larchey began walking toward the door. He then started to reach for the gun, which was sitting on the sofa. When deputies warned Larchey not to reach for the weapon, the man then walked outside. When asked if anyone else was inside the residence, Larchey told deputies that his friend, Hediger, was there.

Upon entering the home, Hediger exited a bedroom, identified himself and told officers his girlfriend was also at the location. The deputy entered the room Hediger had left and saw a woman, identified as Spradling, sitting on the bed. He also saw a metal smoking device lying next to the woman, along with three more glass smoking devices sitting on a nightstand nearby and two sets of digital scales with a white substance smeared on the tops.

When he opened the closet door, the deputy saw a marijuana plant inside under a grow light.

When asked if anyone had been shooting weapons, Hediger said he had shot a “BB gun,” with Vaseline on the end of the barrel earlier that evening. Hediger told police he knew he was a felon and couldn’t have a firearm, but told deputies he had it because he was “just a country boy.”

Hediger later admitted the only reason he had the weapons was to sell them for profit or drugs. He is due in court this month on the same weapons charge.

When deputies questioned Spradling, she said she was fine and wasn’t being held against her will. Deputies then detained all three people that were inside the home.

A records check showed that Hediger has a valid arrest warrant in Sequoyah County, and he and Spradling were both convicted felons. Larchey had no warrants and no prior felony convictions.

The drugs and the guns were removed from the home and placed in evidence. Three of the smoking devices recovered had a white crystalline substance inside. The metal smoking device had a brown, burned substance inside.

Larchey was released and faces no charges because Hediger told deputies the man does not live at the home and had no idea about the drugs.

Measurements indicated that the sawed-off shotgun had a total length of 18 inches and a barrel length of 12 and 5/8 inches. Oklahoma law states that a shotgun must not be shorter than 26 inches in overall length, with a barrel length of no less than 18 inches.

Spradling and Hediger were transported to the Sequoyah County Jail.

The firearm possession charges the two face are punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years, while the cultivation charge carries a punishment of a fine of up to $1,000, up to two years in prison, or both. The misdemeanor drug paraphernalia charge has a penalty of up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Hediger’s additional charge for the sawed-off weapon is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

The suspected drugs were sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for further testing.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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