Oak Ridge Today

Packard accused of filing false tax returns

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Russell Barker, who is now Anderson County sheriff, and the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force executes search warrants at McGuire Used Books on Thursday afternoon, May 24, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Already charged with money laundering and retail crime, an Oak Ridge business manager has been accused by the state of filing false tax returns and not paying sales taxes.

John McGuire Packard, 38, was indicted on nine counts by the Anderson County Grand Jury in June. The indictment charged him with one count of evade/defeat use tax for each month from September 2017 to May 2018. Those are Class E felonies.

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For members: Thousands of movies, games, ink cartridges seized from McGuire, Packard’s, indictment says

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Law enforcement officers who searched McGuire Used Books and Packard’s stores in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Kingston more than two years ago seized thousands of movies, video games, and printer ink cartridges, and after the searches and seizures, an Oak Ridge man was charged with money laundering, organized retail crime, and theft, according to an indictment filed in Anderson County in June.

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Russell Barker and the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force executed search warrants at McGuire Used Books on Thursday afternoon, May 24, 2018. The law enforcement search at McGuire—a store that sold used books, compact discs, digital video discs, and electronics—lasted hours and continued throughout the night. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Law enforcement officers who searched McGuire Used Books and Packard’s stores in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Kingston more than two years ago seized thousands of movies, video games, and printer ink cartridges, and after the searches and seizures, an Oak Ridge man was charged with money laundering, organized retail crime, and theft, according to an indictment filed in Anderson County in June.

More than 50,000 items were seized, according to a tally of the exhibits included with the indictment.

Law enforcement officers who searched McGuire Used Books and Packard’s stores in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Kingston more than two years ago seized thousands of movies, video games, and printer ink cartridges, and after the searches and seizures, an Oak Ridge man was charged with money laundering, organized retail crime, and theft, according to an indictment filed in Anderson County in June.

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For members: Man charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, meth

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Joshua Andrew Koch

A 42-year-old Anderson County man is facing federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine after a search of a home in Claxton in July allegedly found about 230 grams of a white, crystal-like substance thought to be methamphetamine and roughly 69.5 grams of a brown powder substance suspected to be heroin, according to state and federal court records.

The defendant, Joshua Andrew Koch, has also been charged with federal financial and firearms crimes, and he has seven co-defendants in the case, although the charges vary by defendant. A seven-count federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville in November alleged a two-year conspiracy.

 

Joshua Andrew Koch

 

A 42-year-old Anderson County man is facing federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine after a search of a home in Claxton in July allegedly found about 230 grams of a white, crystal-like substance thought to be methamphetamine and roughly 69.5 grams of a brown powder substance suspected to be heroin, according to state and federal court records.

The defendant has also been charged with federal financial and firearms crimes, and he has seven co-defendants in the case, although the charges vary by defendant.

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DA: Thousands of pills seized during investigation of international drug sales

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Pictured above from left to right are Shelley Dawn Hicks Robbins, 44, of Anderson County; Moshin Agha, 30, of India; and Gene McKinley Miller, 43, of Anderson County. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff's Department)

Pictured above from left to right are Shelley Dawn Hicks Robbins, 44, of Anderson County; Moshin Agha, 30, of India; and Gene McKinley Miller, 43, of Anderson County. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

 

Thousands of pills were seized from a home in Anderson County during an investigation of prescription pills being shipped into the United States for distribution, possibly from Internet sales from international sources, authorities said Monday.

Three people have been indicted and arrested in the case. One was detained overseas this month, in the international airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general.

The apprehension of Moshin Agha, 30, of India, was reported first by Oak Ridge Today on Monday. In a press release Monday afternoon, Clark said Agha, who had been entered into a national police database, was located at the international airport in Dubai sometime in the late evening of Friday, July 13, or early the next morning.

Agha’s co-defendants, Shelley Dawn Hicks Robbins, 44, and Gene McKinley Miller, 43, both of Anderson County, have already pleaded guilty in the case. [Read more…]

Defendant apprehended overseas after drug, money laundering indictment

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Moshin Agha

Moshin Agha

 

A defendant was apprehended overseas in Dubai after being indicted on drug and money laundering charges in Anderson County, according to court records.

Moshin Agha, 30, was picked up by authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then brought to the United States, according to a motion to increase bond and set bond conditions that was filed in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on July 18. After being brought to the United States, Agha was turned over to state authorities in New York.

Agha, who has an address listed in India, waived extradition and is now in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, according to court and jail records. It’s not clear when he was apprehended in Dubai and brought to New York.

A writ of criminal capias that had been issued November 2, 2016, ordered Agha to be detained and brought to Anderson County. It was executed with Agha’s arrest by Simon Byrne, acting director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County, on Wednesday, July 18. [Read more…]

Clinton man accused of stealing $2,000 in coins from car wash

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Joshua Steven Brinyark

Joshua Steven Brinyark

 

A Clinton man is accused of breaking into a car wash, stealing $2,000 worth of coins, and exchanging about half the coins for cash at a coin machine, according to court records.

Joshua Steven Brinyark, 30, was seen on a surveillance video breaking a door window and entering an inner office to steal the coins at Pop’s Car Wash on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in Clinton at about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Brinyark then called a second man, Joshua Allen Bryant, at 7:34 a.m. and asked Bryant to pick him up at a Git’ N Go Market that is also on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard, according to the affidavits. Brinyark said he would give Bryant money for the ride, the affidavits said.

“Bryant picked up Brinyark and took him off another road in Clinton near some railroad tracks, where he got out of the vehicle and picked up two buckets filled with coins,” the affidavits said. “Brinyark then asked Bryant to take him to Walmart to cash the coins, and he’d give him money.” [Read more…]

Police: Man found with suspected meth residue, $29K; charged with money laundering

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James Phillip Chase

James Phillip Chase

Police said they found large vacuum seal bags that contained suspected crystal methamphetamine residue and $29,000 in a pickup truck pulled over for speeding in Oliver Springs on Tuesday.

Also found in the vehicle were tracking numbers, numerous shipping envelopes and rubber bands, addresses, documents related to the sale of controlled substances, deposit slips, and packing tape, said Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Wilson, an investigator with the Seventh Judicial Crime Task Force in Anderson County.

The defendant, James Phillip Chase, 53, of Dutch Valley Road, has been charged with money laundering, simple possession of a Schedule II drug (methamphetamine), and speeding. He remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton early Saturday morning. [Read more…]

Two plead guilty to money laundering…literally

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Information from WYSH Radio 

Two men pleaded guilty this week to charges that they literally laundered money stolen in a Knox County bank robbery.

Danny Ray Idles, 36, of Clinton and Christopher Coward, 31, of Powell, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Anderson County Criminal Court to four counts each of money laundering and were sentenced to serve four 12-year jail sentences to run concurrently. [Read more…]

Feds, local law enforcement dismantle $17.5 million cocaine trafficking ring

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Federal officials on Thursday announced they had dismantled a Knoxville-based cocaine ring that is accused of trafficking $17.5 million worth of drugs and distributing more than five kilograms of cocaine and 280 grams of crack cocaine.

A federal grand jury returned a 58-count indictment on Dec. 3 against 21 Knoxville residents, charging them with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, money laundering, and gun charges, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release.

The 21 members of the alleged drug ring appeared in court before U.S. magistrate judges this week and entered pleas of not guilty to the charges in the indictment, Killian said. All of them have been ordered held without bond pending trial, which has been set for Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

Among the law enforcement agencies participating in the investigation were the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Clinton Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, and Roane County Sheriff’s Department, Killian said. [Read more…]