A 23-year-old man violated his probation and picked up a new charge late Thursday night after his probation officer reportedly caught him with a gun.

Officers from the Covington Police Department were called to a home on Blackwell Street around 8 p.m. about a man with a gun. When they arrived, officers immediately noticed that the front door of the home was open and people were yelling back and forth from inside and outside the house. Officers entered the home and saw Darrell Stanley in handcuffs, sitting on the couch, with his probation officer standing in the living room. According to reports, there was also a large beer bottle on the floor and a handgun between the cushions on the couch.

Stanley was removed from the home and placed in a patrol vehicle so that officers could question him without all the noise from people yelling. Before speaking with Stanley, officers spoke with his probation officer who informed them that Stanley was on felony probation and when he pulled up at the home that day to speak with him, Stanley ran into the house and sat on the couch, stuffing his hand between the cushions.

The probation officer said that he asked Stanley what he put between the cushions and Stanley said "nothing."
However when the probation officer looked, he located the small revolver and placed his client in handcuffs.

When officers spoke with Stanley, he was adamant that the gun did not belong to him. He reportedly told them that his friend had pulled up and given it to him and when he saw his probation officer pull up he ran inside. When asked why he didn't just give the gun back to his friend, Stanley allegedly told officers he didn't know and then expressed his belief that his friend had "set him up."

When the gun was run through the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) it came back clean. Stanley was arrested and transported to the Newton County Detention Center where he remains, charged with probation violation and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.