A Philadelphia man who was sentenced to probation in August on felony weapon and theft charges is back behind bars, after he was allegedly found to be in possession of a ghost gun and methamphetamine during a traffic stop in Montgomery Township over the weekend.
James Ditsche, 35, has been charged with felony counts of prohibited possession of a firearm and firearms not to be carried without a license, along with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, stemming from the incident Friday evening.
Montgomery Township Police were patrolling at 10:40 p.m. when they observed a black Jeep Liberty heading southbound on North Wales Road, which matched an alert from the department’s stationary license plate reader indicating the owner had an active arrest warrant, police said. The vehicle was stopped by police in the parking lot of the Wawa along the 900 block of North Wales Road, and the female driver was detained on the arrest warrant, according to the criminal complaint.
The passenger – identified as Ditsche – was known to carry a firearm without a license, police said, and a check through criminal records indicated Ditsche also had an arrest warrant out of Burlington County, NJ on weapons charges. Once outside of the vehicle, Ditsche advised he had a firearm on his hip, which police described as a loaded 9mm Glock replica, or ghost gun, the report states.
Ditsche also was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, police said.
Court records show Ditsche was arraigned Saturday morning by Magisterial District Judge Katherine McGill, who set bail at $99,000 cash. A probation detainer was also filed against Ditsche, who was taken to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail.
The criminal complaint notes that Ditsche will be extradited to New Jersey to face the existing charges, however it is unclear if that will happen before or after his most recent charges in Pennsylvania are resolved.
Ditsche was previously arrested in Montgomery Township in January 2022 on felony weapons charges, and again in March 2022 on felony theft and receiving stolen property. He was also arrested on a dozen misdemeanor counts of theft, receiving stolen property, and criminal mischief in Franconia Township in February 2022.
A review of court records from those three cases shows Ditsche struck plea deals in each case in early August, with Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Wendy Rothstein sentencing Ditsche to four years’ probation on the felony weapons charge, three years’ probation on the felony theft charge, and three years’ probation on the misdemeanor theft charge.
Sentencing notes in those cases do not indicate if the sentences are consecutive or concurrent.
Court records also show Ditsche is facing more than 50 felony charges and 30 misdemeanor charges in Bucks County, following his arrest in Hilltown Township in November 2022. Charges in that case range from felony theft and receiving stolen property to more than two dozen counts of theft from a motor vehicle.
Ditsche has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Oct. 5 at 9 a.m. in front of Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Charissa Liller in that case, and his next court appearance on the new charges is a preliminary heating on Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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