A Warrick County man is in jail this morning after providing his 14-year-old son with a loaded handgun for protection during a Lyft cab ride.
On Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at approximately 6:21 PM the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residential address in the 6000 block of Upper Mount Vernon Road upon report that a 14-year-old male had been given a handgun by an adult. Sheriff’s deputies learned that the 14-year-old had been sent home in a Lyft cab from his father’s residence in Warrick County after being armed with a handgun.
Mr. Adam Meece was supposed to take his son home to the child’s mother, but was reportedly too tired to drive. The juvenile explained that Mr. Meece had him call a Lyft cab. After giving him a handgun and knife, the juvenile reported that his father instructed him to use the weapons for personal protection. The juvenile was allegedly told to give his mother the firearm once he reached her residence in Vanderburgh County.
The Warrick County Sheriff’s Office was sent to Mr. Meece’s residence in an attempt to locate him, but were initially unsuccessful. At approximately 1:00AM the next morning, Warrick County Sheriffs’ Office deputies stopped Mr. Meece’s vehicle and then transported him to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center. When interviewed by detectives, Mr. Meece admitted that he gave the handgun to his son for the ride home to his mother’s house. Mr. Meece explained that he put the handgun in his son’s waistband inside a belly holster. Mr. Meece stated the gun was loaded with one bullet in the chamber. When asked why he felt the need to give his son the handgun, Mr. Meece stated the “Lyft” driver looked like a “ChoMo” to him. Mr. Meece later indicated that he had been drinking at the time and was unable to drive his son himself.
Mr. Meece was later booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail with no bond and is awaiting his initial court appearance.
Indiana law only permits a parent to provide a firearm to a child who is:  attending a hunters safety course or a firearms safety course, engaging in practice in using a firearm for target shooting at an established range, engaging in an organized competition involving the use of a firearm or participating in or practicing for a performance by an organized group that uses firearms as a part of a performance, hunting or trapping under a valid license issued to the child, traveling with an unloaded firearm to or from an activity described above, on property that is under the control of the child’s parent, at the child’s residence with the permission of the child’s parent.
Adam Keith Meece (pictured above), 35, of Newburgh. Child Neglect as a Level 5 Felony, Neglect of a Dependant as a Level 6 Felony, Providing a Firearm to a Child as a Level 5 Felony, Contributing to a Deliquency of a Minor as a Level 6 Felony
