Stephen Pfifer
RIDGWAY – The execution of a search warrant at a residence in Ridgway in early January prompted speculation about ongoing drug activity, but authorities said it was nothing of the sort – yet, anyway.
The action occurred in the late afternoon of Friday, January 5, when a large law enforcement contingent converged on a rental house in Ridgway belonging to one Terry W. Wilson, who is the landlord.
The renter of the dwelling was identified as Stephen Pfifer, 46, who reportedly resides there with roommate Kenneth Pumphrey Jr.
On the day in question, Pfifer is alleged to have been involved in an argument with his girlfriend, Felicia Rush, and they argument is alleged to have gotten physical.
Rush reportedly got away from Pfifer, and somehow made her way to a business in town, where police were summoned to respond, this occurring at about 2 p.m.
Rush complained that she had been beaten by Pfifer.
Why police didn’t immediately go to the rental house is unknown.
Instead, authorities obtained a search warrant, and at about 4 p.m., a major law enforcement presence was on that particular street so that the search warrant could be executed.
There, police asked the landlord (Wilson) if anyone was in the house; to Wilson’s knowledge, he is reported to have responded that no, there was not.
However, when the house was searched, Pfifer was located in a closet.
No one else was in the house, although reports by neighbors seemed to indicate that in the couple of hours before the warrant was executed, there were indeed others present; but when the warrant was carried out, all were gone.
Interestingly, in the execution of the search warrant, authorities located a bottle of Drano and other unidentified items in a safe.
This discovery was not attributed to Pfifer’s doing, but instead, law enforcement officers were told, this is where Wilson tends to “keep stuff like that.”
While it’s possible do such a thing, in order, ostensibly, to keep said items from being used in the manufacturing of illicit substances like meth, it just looks strange.
No charges were issued, however, regarding anything connected to drugs, the manufacturing thereof, nor anything else associated with it.
Instead, Pfifer was charged with Class 2 felony Aggravated Domestic Battery involving Strangulation, something that’s been getting charged more and more, either because Illinois law now allows for specification of it, or because there simply seems to be a rash of it happening.
Pfifer was toted off to the White County Jail in Carmi on behalf of Gallatin County, to be held pending an appearance in front of a judge.
He remained there as of press time, Monday, November 8.
The backstory is what has most of Gallatin County talking.
Rush, 30, of Broughton, is a Saline County drug felon and thief with a lengthy history dating back several years, with convictions in Possession of a Controlled Substance as long ago as 2008 and 2009.
She currently has two cases pending in Saline, a Class 4 felony Retail Theft and a misdemeanor Criminal Trespass to Land from December of 2016, and a Possession of a Controlled Substance and Retail Theft set of Class 4 felonies from November of 2017.
Neither of those cases have been resolved in Saline as yet, with future court dates pending.
Sources in Gallatin advise that it was their understanding that Rush’s criminal proclivities had something to do with the argument she was engaged in with her significant other, and that argument allegedly escalated to culminate in the charges the sig oth (Pfifer) ended up sitting in jail over.
Pfifer has no criminal history in Gallatin County, but in Saline, he received a Possession of a Controlled Substance (Class 4) conviction in mid-2014.
He was convicted of violating terms of probation in June 2016 and was placed on 30 months probation on June 1st of that year.
It would appear that he is still on that probation, therefore, and this new arrest would be in violation of that if Saline County State’s Attorney Jayson Clark decides to pursue it.
Fortunately for Gallatin County residents (or at least, for Rush), Clark has little problem with revoking probation, and Pfifer’s possible argument of anything being “started” by Rush – whether it had to do with dope or not – likely won’t hold water.
As the charge was only just filed on deadline, there’s been no indication of upcoming court dates for Pfifer in Gallatin County…but the entirety of the drug world in the county, having had chills sent up their spines with recent arrests of drugs, thieving, and other activity within the county, are reported to kind of be holding their breaths with this one, to see how it shakes out. Be watching upcoming editions for just that.