By MARISSA DECHANT
Staff writer
A Franklin man who was arrested on charges of drug possession and child endangerment last month was held for court Wednesday.
Travis Vogan, 31, appeared before district judge Matthew Kirtland for the preliminary hearing in Venango County Central Court.
District Attorney Shawn White called State Probation and Parole agent Harry Clark to testify about the evidence of drug possession he had found inside Vogan’s residence during a home visit conducted April 18.
Clark said he was greeted by Vogan’s girlfriend Lucy Porter when he arrived at the residence on the 500 block of Pacific Street.
Porter, 32, and Vogan have two children together, who Clark approximated to be both under the age of 2.
Vogan wasn’t at the residence, Clark said, but Porter, who was also charged in the case and waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday, allowed him access to the house in order to conduct a home tour.
On his way to the third floor, Clark said he immediately noticed the smell of marijuana.
Clark said that during a plain view inspection, he found loose marijuana, 30 baggies on the floor in close proximity to the marijuana and a small knotted baggie corner containing a white powdery substance suspected to be cocaine.
When he later spoke with Vogan at the Venango County jail, Clark said Vogan admitted he had been selling between to ounce amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine.
Attorney Jeffrey Misko, Vogan’s defense counsel, questioned Clark as to Porter’s knowledge of drugs in the home.
Clark said Porter had told him she was aware of the presence of marijuana on the third floor but didn’t know of there being any other drugs upstairs.
Clark said Vogan also stated he didn’t know what was in the third floor space.
At the time of his arrest, Vogan told Clark that if he were drug tested, he would come back positive for meth, cocaine, Suboxone and marijuana, Clark said.
When questioned by White, State Probation and Parole agent Karen See said at the time of Vogan’s arrest, he had a baggie of suspected cocaine in his pants pocket and drug paraphernalia and a ledger in his vehicle.
Trooper Sean Floor of the Franklin Police Department was the arresting officer in the case and also testified Wednesday.
Floor said he was called to the residence after Clark’s initial home tour and found the same drug-related items that Clark had seen in plain view.
A search warrant was then ordered on the home, and Floor said police found items that included one knotted and two open plastic baggie corners with white powder suspected to be cocaine; packaged marijuana; 19 plastic baggies with suspected marijuana residue; two boxes of 150-count sandwich bags, unused; 15 syringes; and a metal spoon with a burnt bottom and a white powdery substance.
Misko argued that based on the small amounts of suspected marijuana and cocaine found in the home, there was not enough evidence to charge Vogan with intent to deliver drugs.
He also asked that the two counts of child endangerment be dropped due to the children not having easy access to the third floor of the home.
White dropped one charge of endangering the welfare of children, but Kirtland held all the other charges for court. They are a felony count of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver and two misdemeanor counts each of endangering the welfare of children, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and use/possession of drug paraphernalia.
Porter is facing two counts of endangering the welfare of children and single counts of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and use/possession of drug paraphernalia.
The cases against Vogan and Porter will now move to the Court of Common Pleas.
Vogan remains in the Venango County jail after failing to post $25,000 bail. Porter remains free after posting bail.
