Two Chillicothe women have been indicted by a Ross County grand jury on four drug-related offenses after a traffic stop in which officers allegedly found more than 200 grams of methamphetamine, according to Jenna Hornyak, an investigator for the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
Brittany Sauders and Linsey Kifer were each charged with aggravated possession of drugs, aggravated trafficking in drugs, possession of cocaine and trafficking in cocaine, according to Hornyak, as reported by the Chillicothe Gazette. The charges amount to two first-degree felonies and two third-degree felonies.
Officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle containing the two defendants, and a search found more than $1,100, baggies holding a crystallized substance and a container with a hidden compartment that also held a white substance, according to Hornyak, as reported by the Chillicothe Gazette. In total, 221.45 grams of methamphetamine and 14.17 grams of cocaine were found, Hornyak said.
An indictment is a formal accusation returned by a grand jury, not a conviction. Sauders and Kifer are presumed innocent unless the charges are proven in court, and their cases will proceed through the Ross County Court of Common Pleas, where arraignment dates are set after indictments are returned.
The case now moves to arraignment in the Ross County Court of Common Pleas, where the defendants will enter pleas to the four counts. First-degree felony charges are the most serious level under Ohio law, and the two trafficking counts allege the drugs were possessed for distribution rather than personal use — an allegation prosecutors will have to prove at trial, where both women are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
The indictments were part of a busy grand jury session. In total, the grand jury heard 14 cases on Nov. 6, 2026, with 13 returning true bills, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
The same grand jury also indicted three North Carolina residents — Trinity Guy, R’Reahnna Carraway and Tyler Andujar — on counterfeiting charges, according to Hornyak, as reported by the Chillicothe Gazette. Officers responded to the Carters store on Bridge Street after an employee reported a group trying to use a bill with out-of-place print along its edges, and a later traffic stop and search turned up more than $1,000 in washed and altered bills, a credit card reader and a counterfeit-detection marker, Hornyak said.