Oak Ridge Today

FBI asks for public’s help catching suspects in kidnappings, extortions at two banks

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Ed Reinhold

Edward Reinhold, special agent in charge for FBI Knoxville, asks for the public’s help catching two suspects involved in two alleged kidnapping and extortion plots at banks in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—The Federal Bureau of Investigation is asking for the public’s help in catching the suspects involved in the kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge and SmartBank in Knoxville. The FBI is also working with bank employees to ensure they know what to do in the future and to be aware of their surroundings.

On Wednesday, the FBI announced a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the identification and arrests of the suspects. They’ve released descriptions of two white male suspects.

“The only way we can prevent this from happening is to catch these guys,” said Edward Reinhold, special agent in charge at the FBI Knoxville. The FBI had a Thursday afternoon press conference at its Knoxville office on Dowell Springs Road.

Agents are asking members of the public who might know anything to step forward. [Read more…]

FBI offers reward up to $20,000 for info on kidnapping, extortion at Y-12 FCU, SmartBank

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Oak Ridge Police Department at Y-12 Federal Credit Union

Oak Ridge Police Department officers were at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning (April 28, 2015). The branch will remain closed Wednesday, although the credit union’s headquarters will be open. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:10 a.m.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the identification and arrests of the suspects in the kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union and SmartBank.

The FBI, Knoxville Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and Oak Ridge Police Department are asking the public to help identify and locate the people responsible for the kidnappings and extortions.

The FBI said that on April 28, at approximately 8:15 a.m., a Y-12 Federal Credit Union employee and his family were kidnapped from their residence and held hostage at gunpoint.

While the family was held hostage, the employee was coerced to attempt to remove money from the Y-12 Federal Credit Union at 501 Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

ORPD officer, a former Vandy standout, terminated as statutory rape allegation investigated

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ORPD Cassen Garrison

Witnesses said ORPD Officer Cassen Garrison used his hands to break out a back window of an Emory Valley Center van and rescue a client from the back of it after a May 12, 2015, crash at Northwestern and North Purdue avenues. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:25 a.m. Aug. 18.

A probationary Oak Ridge police officer who once played football for Vanderbilt University and the Kansas City Chiefs has been investigated, terminated, and will be prosecuted for allegations of statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl and other charges, authorities said Monday.

The victim’s stepfather, who was in custody at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, made an allegation that the officer, Cassen Jackson-Garrison, 30, had engaged in inappropriate contact with his stepdaughter, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release. The allegation was made to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy investigator at the jail.

Clark said Garrison was one of two officers who met the victim when he responded to the victim’s home in connection with a domestic violence complaint. The victim’s stepfather was arrested because of that complaint and remains jailed at the ACDF, Clark said. [Read more…]

Body of missing five-year-old boy found in pond near family home

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Olin Elwood Fitton

Olin Elwood Fitton

The body of the five-year-old boy who went missing Wednesday afternoon was found in a pond near his family’s home in Anderson County, authorities said.

Ground search teams working with K-9s tracked the missing child, Odin Elwood Fitton, to a pond in the creek near the family home on Brushy Valley Road, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.

“Our dive team was called to search the water, and sadly, the child’s body was found,” Lucas said Wednesday night.

Odin was reported missing at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, and ground and air searches began shortly after that. His family’s home is in the 1600 block of Brushy Valley Road near Interstate 75. [Read more…]

Anderson County, others search for missing five-year-old

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Olin Elwood Fitton

Odin Elwood Fitton

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies are searching for a missing five-year-old boy who apparently wandered away from home at about lunchtime Wednesday.

Authorities have conducted several ground searches on foot with K-9s as well as by ATV and horseback, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said Wednesday evening. Knox County Sheriff’s Office Airwatch is assisting by helicopter. The searches are continuing to use assets from several agencies, including the Knoxville Police Department Search and Rescue team, Lucas said.

The child was reported missing around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, and ground and air searches began shortly after that. The home is in the 1600 block of Brushy Valley Road near Interstate 75.

The child information is as follows: [Read more…]

Clinton police arrest robbery suspect

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Clinton Police Department detectives have arrested a Knoxville man, 37-year-old Wallace Wade Tidwell, in connection with a weekend convenience store robbery, authorities said.

Reports indicate that a clerk at the Clinton BP at 2228 North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard flagged down a patrol car at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday and told the officer she had just been robbed, the CPD said in a release. The clerk said a white male went into the restroom of the store, and when he came out, he walked up to the cash register and demanded all the money, the release said. [Read more…]

AC woman arrested in Knoxville assault

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Andersonville woman has been arrested and charged in an attack that critically injured another woman at a North Knoxville motel this week, according to the Knoxville Police Department.

Denise Henry, 38, was arrested Wednesday night at a home on Strawberry Plains Pike and is being held on a $30,000 bond on a charge of aggravated assault for allegedly beating a woman outside America’s Best Value Inn and Suites on Merchant Drive.

KPD officers found 36-year-old Diana Trent unresponsive with severe head trauma about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Trent was rushed to UT Medical Center, where she underwent emergency surgery.

Investigation continues, suspect info released in Y-12 FCU kidnapping, extortion

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Oak Ridge Police Department at Y-12 Federal Credit Union

Oak Ridge Police Department officers and detectives responded to the Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Tuesday morning, April 28, for what was later reported to be a kidnapping and extortion plot involving a credit union employee’s family and the Oak Ridge branch of the credit union.

 

Authorities continue to investigate a kidnapping and extortion plot involving the Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge last week, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has released some information describing the three suspects.

The alleged kidnapping and extortion started at about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 28, when a credit union employee’s family was kidnapped from the Whittington Creek neighborhood in west Knox County in an effort to extort money from the credit union, the FBI said in a press release on Wednesday.

“The employee’s family was held at gunpoint for a period of time before being released in the Gettysvue Country Club parking lot in Knoxville, around 9:25 a.m.,” the release said. “Upon being released, the victims were able to seek help from a nearby residence. During the law enforcement response, the suspects fled and remain at large. No injuries were reported, and no money was taken from the credit union.” [Read more…]

The numbers: ORPD turnover 2007-2015

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James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

Turnover in the Oak Ridge Police Department is one of several issues at the heart of a contentious debate over the ORPD and its chief, James T. Akagi.

But since the debate started in late January, there hasn’t been much public discussion of how the turnover rate compares, in either numbers or percentages, to the rate before Akagi started on July 1, 2011.

Information requested by Oak Ridge Today and provided by the Oak Ridge Personnel Department and Personnel Director Penny Sissom sheds some light. That data goes back more than eight years, starting in Calendar Year 2007. That’s roughly 4.5 years before Akagi started and more than 3.5 years since.

Oak Ridge Today analyzed the data by calendar year (January-December) and fiscal year (July 1-June 30). The data shows that ORPD turnover ebbs and flows from year to year, with a high of 19 and a low of one.

Oak Ridge Police Department Turnover (2007-2015)

Here are the numbers by calendar year (CY), from January to December, based on city data: [Read more…]

KPD training specialist to discuss bullying on Monday

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Aubrey Maples

Aubrey Maples

Aubrey Maples, training specialist for the Safety Education Unit of the Knoxville Police Department, will speak at the Monday, February 23, luncheon meeting of the Oak Ridge Branch of AAUW (American Association of University Women) in Room 102 of the Activities Building at First Presbyterian Church, 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Maples, who is a civilian educator with the KPD Safety Education Unit, will talk about the Department’s “Take a Stand Against Bullying” Program. Also present will be Officer Lori Banks of the Safety Education Unit.

Maples received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and is currently pursuing her master’s in applied behavioral science, with an emphasis on criminal justice and social problems, a press release said. [Read more…]

15 percent turnover not necessarily cause for alarm, UT professor says

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Terry Leap

Terry Leap

One of the initial concerns raised about the Oak Ridge Police Department last month was whether the turnover rate was high.

Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn said she had calculated a 15 percent annual turnover rate in the 3.5 years that Police Chief Jim Akagi has led the department. That compares to a reported turnover rate of only 2.9 percent for the Knoxville Police Department, Baughn said.

“I’m sure you agree that having a turnover rate five times that of our neighbor demands further scrutiny,” Baughn told City Manager Mark Watson in a January 25 email.

But Oak Ridge municipal officials said they don’t think the turnover rate is significantly out of line with what it has been previously. Watson said an average of 7.25 employees per year have left in the last four years due to resignations, retirements, or being asked to leave.

Last week, a University of Tennessee professor suggested that a 15 percent turnover rate, by itself, might not be a cause for concern. [Read more…]

FBI, KPD arrest Kingston suspect in Y-12 Credit Union robbery

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Y-12 Federal Credit Union Robbery on Clinton Highway

A surveillance photo from the alleged robbery at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Clinton Highway on Friday, January 23. (Source: FBI)

The FBI and Knoxville Police Department on Saturday arrested a Kingston man suspected of robbing the Y-12 Federal Union on Clinton Highway on Friday.

Bryan Samples, 43, is being held without bail pending trial, said Marshall Stone, supervisory special agent for the FBI in Knoxville.

The robbery of the Y-12 Federal Credit Union at 6640 Clinton Highway was reported at about 4:49 p.m. Friday. A suspect entered the Credit Union and passed a teller a bank robbery demand note, obtained an undisclosed amount of money, and then fled. [Read more…]