Son convicted of drug charges inside courtroom, father arrested outside

After his son was convicted inside a federal courthouse in Knoxville on drug charges last week, a Lake City man was arrested outside, charged with selling a controlled substance, authorities said.

The mother was also arrested on drug charges, but she was at home on Vowell Mountain Lane near Lake City when she was picked up, authorities said.

It happened late last week. Jeffrey Scott Braden of Lake City was convicted in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Thursday of conspiring to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. The conviction followed a three-day federal trial. Braden was also found guilty of possessing the equipment, chemicals, products, and materials that can be used to make meth, and being a felon in possession of ammunition, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

On Monday, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said Braden’s father William Charles Braden, 77, was arrested outside the federal building after the trial was over on Thursday. Braden’s mother, Betty Jo Braden, 68, was arrested at their Lake City home. The two were indicted by an Anderson County grand jury this month on charges of selling a controlled substance (Percocet) after a narcotics investigation by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Special Operations Unit, White said.

Both were booked into the Anderson County Detention Facility on Thursday, and each was later released after posting $25,000 bond, White said. A court date will be scheduled later in Anderson County Criminal Court.

“As these are pending criminal cases, no additional information can be released at this time,” White said.

Their son, Jeffrey Scott Braden, faces a life sentence and was the only defendant to go to trial out of 42 people indicted on federal methamphetamine charges in March. Thirty-eight of the 42 indicted have pleaded guilty, two others have signed plea agreements, and one has not been arrested and remains a fugitive, White said.