Lawrence man arrested on drug, firearm possession, resisting arrest

A 23-year-old Lawrence man was booked into Douglas County Jail late Monday evening on suspicion of multiple drug offenses, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon and resisting arrest.

Willie Kenneth Franklin was booked into jail a little after 10 p.m. on Monday after Lawrence police responded to a report of a male trespassing at the Presto Station at 2330 Iowa St. Officers contacted Franklin in a vehicle outside, at which point he gave them a false name, said Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence Police Department spokesman.

McKinley said an officer was later able to identify Franklin and determined that there were multiple warrants for his arrest. Franklin resisted arrest and struggled with the officers.

When officers were able to handcuff Franklin, one of them discovered a handgun in his vehicle, near where he was seated. Officers also located numerous individually wrapped pieces of what appeared to be crack cocaine in Franklin’s possession, McKinley said. Franklin was in jail Tuesday with bond set at $27,000.