TWO WEEKEND ACCIDENTS LEAD TO ALCOHOL AND DRUG CHARGES IN BRACEBRIDGE AND GRAVENHURST

MUSKOKA — A driver who hit  a guard rail and another who became lodged in a snow bank near the Beaver Creek prison face separate charges in accidents Friday and Saturday.

On Boxing Day police charged a North York man after illegal drugs were found in a vehicle that ran off the road into a ditch in Gravenhurst.

Police say that just before 10 p.m. OPP officers responded to concerns from a member of the public on Gravenhurst Parkway near Beaver Creek Drive and the Beaver Creek federal penitentiary.

The driver was no longer with the vehicle.

Police responded quickly and located a quantity of illegal drugs and were soon able to locate the driver.

Anthony Gillespie, 31, of North York, was charged with:

  • Possession of Schedule I Substance- Cocaine
  • Possessing Cannabis for the Purpose of Selling
  • Possession of Contraband before Visitor Point in a Penitentiary.

Gillespie is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge on January 27, 2026.

Beaumont Drive Bracebridge

The following day, December 27, at 4:45 a.m. officers responded to a report  from another member of the public about a single vehicle collision when a vehicle hit a guard rail on Beaumont Drive in Bracebridge.

The caller expressed further concerns about the condition of the driver.

Officers located the vehicle arresting and charging 22-year-old Nicholas Ruttan, of Gravenhurst, with Impaired Operation, Over 80 and Operating a motor vehicle with liquor readily available.

Ruttan is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge on January 27, 2026.

Police were called hours apart Friday and Saturday to a pair of single vehicle collisions that led to drug and alcohol charges against two separate drivers.