25 October 2023- Waynesboro PD arrest a borough man after a domestic incident leads them to allegedly find a number of crack cocaine items on his person. Gage Allen Varner is charged with felony aggravated assault with extreme indifference, felony strangulation, felony possession with intent to distribute, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, and misdemeanor assault. Varner failed to post bail of $50,000.
Just around 10:15am on October 24th, Waynesboro PD were dispatched to a business on S Potomac Street for a caller that was using the business’ phone to get away from a domestic incident. The alleged perpetrator, Gage Varner, was in a relationship with the victim and was found circling around the business in his vehicle. Varner was approached by WPD officers.
The victim was initially interviewed, with her reportedly being in a state of extreme distress. She also allegedly had marks on her that indicated a physical confrontation had occurred.
According to police, the victim told them she had turned off Varner’s alarms on his phone so that he could sleep. This was done because he had not slept for three days due to drug use. Varner was allegedly acting paranoid and accused her of cheating on him because of the alarm silencing. Additionally, Varner was allegedly said to have told his girlfriend “there were people watching him through the ceiling”. It was after this interaction that Varner allegedly threw the victim around and choked her for approximately two minutes. Varner allegedly broke the victim’s phone, prompting her to run away from the home and call police at a nearby business’ phone.
Police were informed there may be footage of the incident due to a Ring camera in the property’s kitchen but that only Varner had access to it. This prompted them to speak to Varner, with him allegedly telling them that the argument was “merely verbal”. Police asked him whether he could have retaliated against the victim, to which he allegedly said he grabbed the victim’s arms. When asked about the potential Ring video, Varner pulled up the footage on his device. Scrolling through different segments, Varner allegedly only picked certain footage to show to the officers.
Varner was taken into custody shortly after, with police searching his person. Inside of his left pants pocket police allegedly found a clear baggie that had a white colored rock, to which Varner reportedly admitted it to be crack cocaine. Inside of the bag, as well, police reportedly found purple caps that each had a crack rock in them. Additionally, the bag had a few small baggies with one white crack rock in each. Finally police say they were prompted by Varner that he had a crack pipe in his shirt pocket.
The responding detective listed in court documents that “the way that it (the crack cocaine) was packaged is typically seen with individuals who are possessing a controlled substance with the intent to deliver it to others”.
Gage Varner is behind bars on $50,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is set for October 31st.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39307-CR-0000242-2023, Incident No.: WPD202310231
