Oak Ridge Today

Alternatives to Incarceration director to speak at Lunch with the League on Tuesday

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The director of Alternatives to Incarceration in Anderson County will discuss the program—which is designed to save taxpayers money by reducing jail overcrowding while helping inmates—during a Tuesday afternoon lunch, a press release said.

The director is Mary Ann Young. She is the featured speaker at Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, March 7, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The press release said Alternatives to Incarceration provides a variety of work, vocational training, and counseling services.

The public is invited to the Tuesday lunch meeting. [Read more…]

WYSH: Crash on I-75 injures four

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Information from WYSH Radio

Four people were transported to area hospitals following a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 South near the Anderson/Campbell County line on Monday night.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the crash involving a pickup and a car occurred at around 9 p.m. Monday. Two men and a five-year-old girl were in the Chevy pickup, while a female was the lone occupant of the Hyundai. The two men were flown by Lifestar to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville for treatment of their injuries, while the five-year-old was taken by ambulance after she managed to escape serious injury. The driver of the car was taken by ambulance to LaFollette Medical Center.

The names and conditions of those involved have not been released. [Read more…]

Warrants: Police find drug paraphernalia, suspected meth in Vermont Ave search

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Joel Donovan Packard

Joel Donovan Packard

Police found suspected methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia during a search of a home on Vermont Avenue early Friday morning, authorities said.

Two people were arrested on drug charges after the search, and two were arrested on outstanding warrants.

Warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said a search of the home at 306 Vermont Avenue found suspected methamphetamine, a blister pack containing four suspected pseudoephedrines, three suspected clonazepam, a snort straw, spoons with residue, black digital scales with residue, pipes, clear plastic baggies with residue, and an unknown white residue.

The two people arrested on drug violations, Joel Donovan Packard, 23, and Tiffany Lea Packard, 42, live at the Vermont Avenue home. Both remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Both Packards have been charged with manufacturing, delivering, or selling Schedule II drugs; manufacturing, delivering, or selling Schedule IV drugs; maintaining a dwelling for manufacturing, selling, or delivering narcotics; and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The search was conducted at about 6:45 a.m. Friday, February 24, by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County and the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Authorities have previously said that two other people, Jackson McGhee, 41, and James Brown, 27, were arrested after the Friday morning search on outstanding warrants in a related case. [Read more…]

Two arrested on drug charges, two on outstanding warrants after Vermont Ave search

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Charges are pending after a search warrant was served as part of an investigation into illegal drug activity on Vermont Avenue on Friday morning, Feb. 24, 2017, authorities said. The search warrant was served by members of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and the Oak Ridge Police Department SWAT and patrol staff. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Charges are pending after a search warrant was served as part of an investigation into illegal drug activity on Vermont Avenue on Friday morning, Feb. 24, 2017, authorities said. The search warrant was served by members of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and the Oak Ridge Police Department SWAT and patrol staff. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

Two people were arrested on drug charges and two were arrested on outstanding warrants after a search of a Vermont Avenue home on Friday morning, authorities said.

The search of the home at 306 Vermont Avenue, across from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in central Oak Ridge, came after an investigation by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force.

The Oak Ridge Police Department SWAT team entered the house early Friday morning with help from ORPD patrol officers.

Once the house was secure, agents from the Crime Task Force searched the home, detained several people, and conducted interviews as part of their investigation, a press release said. [Read more…]

Charges pending in drug investigation

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Police officers from the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and Oak Ridge Police Department serve a search warrant at 306 Vermont Avenue as part of an investigation into illegal drug activity on Friday morning, Feb. 24, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Police officers from the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and Oak Ridge Police Department serve a search warrant at 306 Vermont Avenue as part of an investigation into illegal drug activity on Friday morning, Feb. 24, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:40 p.m.

Charges are pending after a search warrant was served as part of an investigation into illegal drug activity on Vermont Avenue on Friday morning, authorities said.

The search warrant was served by members of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and the Oak Ridge Police Department SWAT and patrol staff.

Police were at the home at 306 Vermont Avenue, which is across from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in central Oak Ridge, for several hours Friday morning. The Oak Ridge Codes Enforcement Department was also there.

The Task Force is currently processing the house and conducting interviews, a City of Oak Ridge press release said late Friday morning.

“Charges are pending,” the press release said. “No further details regarding the investigation will be released by ORPD at this time.” [Read more…]

Mayors, sheriffs also had fraudulent liens filed against them, indictment says

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More public officials, including at least two county mayors and two sheriffs, have been the victims of the allegedly fraudulent liens that led to the indictment announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville on Thursday, after arrests in East Tennessee on Wednesday.

Information about the liens is contained in the 302-count indictment filed in Davidson County on January 20. That indictment came after a one-year investigation by state and federal authorities into fraudulent liens filed by East Tennessee residents. The TBI said 11 people were indicted, and 10 had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon. Seven of those arrested were from Anderson County.

Among the officials that have confirmed that they they were the victims of liens alleged to be fraudulent are Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Roane County Executive Ron Woody, and Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton.

Oak Ridge Today has already reported on some of the police officers and law enforcement officials and agencies in Oak Ridge and Anderson County that have been named in the $137 million worth of liens filed by Lee Harold Cromwell, who was one of the 10 people arrested Wednesday.

Other victims named in the 302-count indictment that haven’t previously been identified: Don A. Layton, Daryl R. Fansler, Jimmy Jones, Ronald Nathan Murch, and Steve R. Queener. [Read more…]

Seven ‘sovereign citizens’ who filed fraudulent liens arrested in Anderson County

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced in Nashville on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Seven “sovereign citizens” from Anderson County, including Lee Harold Cromwell, have been indicted and arrested on charges related to filing fraudulent liens against local officials, law enforcement officers, and public employees, authorities said Thursday.

The sovereign citizens were arrested Wednesday by teams that included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to a press release from Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark in Anderson County.

The TBI said a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies also participated in the arrests.

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. That was about the time that Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge learned that Cromwell had filed a lien against the judge, causing Elledge to recuse himself from a vehicular homicide and aggravated assault case filed against Cromwell. The judge vowed to do everything he could legally, morally, and ethically—both criminally and civilly—to prosecute Cromwell to the full extent of the law.

Elledge said he discussed the liens filed against him by Cromwell with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal task force, the Seventh District Attorney General’s Office (the Anderson County DA), and local legislators. [Read more…]

TBI has press conference today on fraudulent liens, arrests in East Tennessee

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will have a press conference this afternoon (Thursday, February 16) to discuss an investigation into fraudulent liens and arrests made in East Tennessee.

It’s not clear how many arrests were made or where, and who was arrested. But WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that local, state, and federal law enforcement officers assisted the TBI in arresting a suspect in South Clinton on Wednesday.

Oak Ridge Today received a report that the TBI and Federal Bureau of Investigation were both at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Wednesday during the trial for Lee Harold Cromwell. Cromwell is a 67-year-old Oak Ridge man convicted Wednesday in Anderson County Criminal Court of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault for a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. It has been alleged, including in court hearings, that Cromwell is a sovereign citizen, or someone who might not recognize certain government authorities, although neither he nor his defense attorney have acknowledged in court hearings that he is.

Officials haven’t confirmed whether the investigation into fraudulent liens by the TBI includes the $137 million in liens filed by Cromwell against local law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, or Social Security, but they did announce after his convictions on Wednesday that Cromwell had been indicted in Davidson County, where the TBI is based. Cromwell’s bail was revoked, and he was immediately taken into custody. [Read more…]

Cromwell files $137 million in liens against law enforcement, IRS, Social Security

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Lee-Cromwell-Preliminary-Hearing-Jan-15-2016

Lee H. Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records. Cromwell, who was convicted after a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records.

Cromwell has been indicted by a grand jury in Davidson County in Nashville on Class A and Class E felonies. Officials announced those indictments after Cromwell was convicted at the end of his vehicular homicide trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation elaborated, saying that Cromwell was one of 11 people indicted in a 320-count indictment after a one-year investigation into fraudulent liens in East Tennessee that was conducted with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So far, 10 of the 11 people have been arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records, the TBI said. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the arrests on Wednesday.

Seven of those arrested, or more than half of them, are from Anderson County. They claim to be “sovereign citizens,” or people who do not typically “believe that they have to abide by the rules everyone else follows because they have declared their personal independence from government,” said Dave Clark, Anderson County district attorney general.

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. They were helped by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. [Read more…]

Fatal July 4 crash: Victim, mechanic again dispute stuck-throttle claim

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Lee-Cromwell-Trial-Paul-Summers-James-Scott-Ben-Higgins-Feb-13-2017-Web

Defense attorney James Scott, right, talks to potential jurors in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, during the homicide trial for Lee Cromwell, 67, who is accused of killing a Knoxville man and injuring others as he backed through the crowded parking lot at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. Also pictured is Senior Judge Paul Summers, top left, who was appointed to hear the case after Don Elledge recused himself, and Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Ben Higgins, center front. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6 p.m.

CLINTON—On the witness stand on Tuesday, a mechanic and victim again disputed a claim that a stuck throttle might have been the cause of a parking lot crash that killed a Knoxville man and injured other people, including children, after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015.

The two witnesses—victim Michael Eldridge and mechanic David Carey of Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram—were among 15 witnesses who testified from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon in the homicide trial of Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton.

The witnesses included victims, police officers, and the wife of the man who died as well as the couple’s two young children.

Presentation of the evidence concluded Tuesday afternoon, and closing arguments were given Wednesday morning. The case went to the 12-person jury late Wednesday morning.

Cromwell is accused of killing James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville; injuring others; and crashing into several vehicles as he backed his Dodge Ram pickup truck through the crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, after fireworks across the street at Alvin K. Bissell Park. He is facing a vehicular homicide charge and eight counts of aggravated assault. [Read more…]

Agents find about three pounds of suspected crystal meth in major bust

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Leslie William Steelman

Leslie William Steelman

 

Agents found about three pounds of suspected crystal methamphetamine during a major bust in January, authorities said. Agents made an arrest, and they also found three guns, more than $20,000 in cash, and other suspected drugs, including cocaine and MDMA, a press release said.

The Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County has been investigating the importation of crystal methamphetamine into the area since March 2015, the press release said.

Crime Task Force agents tried to locate and apprehend Leslie Steelman of 1094 Cove Lane in Oliver Springs on January 17, the press release said.

He was found at 913 Metler Lane, Lot 5, in Knoxville. With the help of other agencies, he was taken into custody, the press release said.

“Steelman was found hiding under clothing in a back bedroom of the house,” said the press release, which was from the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]

New Anderson County dispatchers graduate from training

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Anderson County’s newest dispatchers graduated from the Communications Deputy Training Academy on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff's Department)

Anderson County’s newest dispatchers graduated from the Communications Deputy Training Academy on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

 

Anderson County’s newest dispatchers graduated from the Communications Deputy Training Academy on Friday, January 27.

The new communications deputies are Tiffany Haines, Amy Purkey, and Brittany Streetman. They have spent the last 10 weeks in an intensive training program to prepare them to answer the call for help from citizens, dispatch the appropriate emergency responders, and render life saving medical care until those resources arrive, a press release said.

The training program included basic public safety telecommunicator training, CPR and emergency medical dispatcher training, specialized courses in criminal law, incident command (NIMS), best practices response for missing and exploited children, area familiarization including ride-a-longs with EMS (emergency medical services) and law enforcement personnel, and many other topics, the press release said. [Read more…]