Oak Ridge Today

Son charged in gruesome murder of parents; mother worked in Oak Ridge

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Joel Michael Guy Jr.

Joel Michael Guy Jr.

 

A 28-year-old man has been charged in the gruesome murder of his parents, one of whom worked in Oak Ridge, authorities said.

Joel Michael Guy Jr., 28, was arrested Tuesday evening in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and charged with killing his parents, Joel Michael Guy Sr., 61, and Lisa Guy, 55, at their home at 11434 Goldenview Lane in west Knox County, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.

The parents are believed to have been murdered between Friday, November 25, and mid-day Saturday, November 26. Both suffered vicious stab wounds as well as dismemberment, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. Their remains were found in multiple rooms in the house. The suspect placed portions of the remains in an acid-based solution in an attempt to destroy evidence, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The toxic fluid required specific biohazard equipment for removal by the KCSO Hazmat Team, authorities said. [Read more…]

FBI seeks help identifying suspect in Farragut bank robbery on Thursday

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Authorities are seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect who robbed the Capital Bank in Farragut on Thursday., Oct. 17, 2016. (Photo courtesy FBI)

Authorities are seeking the public’s help in identifying a suspect who allegedly robbed the Capital Bank in Farragut on Thursday.

The armed robbery was reported at Capital Bank at 136 Concord Road in Farragut at about 9:32 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Knox County Sheriff’s Office.

“Reports indicate that a masked man entered the Capital Bank, brandished a semi-automatic handgun, and demanded money from the bank employees,” an FBI press release said. “After obtaining an undetermined amount of money, the suspect fled the scene.”

Here is a description of the suspect, according to the FBI: [Read more…]

Father allegedly flees crash where injured son is trapped, then flees hospital nude, THP says

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Jacob Daniel Baxter

Jacob Daniel Baxter

 

An Anderson County man allegedly fled a crash where his juvenile son, who was partially ejected and injured, was trapped between a van and a barn, and the man later fled from a hospital nude, authorities said.

The crash was reported at about 11:29 p.m. Saturday, September 3, on Old Lake City Highway.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said Jacob Daniel Baxter, 33, of Black Oak Road in Anderson County, was driving west in a white 1999 Dodge Caravan on Old Lake City Highway when he lost control while going round a curve. The van went off the right side of the road and stopped at a metal barn on the side of the road, according to the THP.

A 15-year-old boy, who is identified as Baxter’s son, was trapped between the van and the barn, according to arrest warrants filed by the THP in Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division I, in Clinton.

While Anderson County Rescue Squad personnel were helping to remove the trapped boy, Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Isaiah Lloyd began searching for the driver. [Read more…]

Knoxville man drowns after jumping from houseboat into Norris Lake

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Anderson County Sheriff's Department Badge

Note: This story was updated at 10 a.m. July 4.

A Knoxville man drowned after jumping from a houseboat into Norris Lake on Saturday evening, authorities said.

The man has been identified as William E. Blasius, 19.

The drowning was reported at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday near Sequoyah Marina in Andersonville.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency responded.

“Several houseboats had tied off together and to the shore as they gathered to watch the fireworks show at the marina,” said Mark Lucas, chief deputy of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. “Sheriff’s investigators responded to the scene and are looking into the possibility Blasius may have hit another boat as he dove into the water.” [Read more…]

One dead after two-county chase ends in crash; wanted man charged with homicide

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Ralpheal Cameron Coffey

Ralpheal Cameron Coffey in 2014 (Source: Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

One man is dead following the crash that occurred Wednesday afternoon on Central Avenue Pike in north Knox County after a two-county police chase, and a man wanted in both Anderson and Knox counties has been charged with vehicular homicide, authorities said.

According to the initial investigation, 26-year-old Ralpheal Cameron Coffey was fleeing from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department in a 2007 maroon Chevy Impala when he almost struck an officer with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office in his cruiser around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on Heiskell Road, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. The officer turned the cruiser around to pursue Coffey, but found the Impala had crashed into a 2007 white Ford F150 pickup truck on Central Avenue Pike at Callahan Drive.

Coffey and his passenger, Tommie Troupe, 44, as well as the driver of the Ford, Kevin Bradley, 27, and his passenger, Eric Kennedy, 26, were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville with incapacitating injuries. Bradley was pronounced dead at the hospital. [Read more…]

Two-county car chase ends in crash that injures four in Knox

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Ralpheal Cameron Coffey

Ralpheal Cameron Coffey in 2014 (Source: Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

A two-county car chase that started in Anderson County before being terminated by deputies Wednesday afternoon ended with a two-vehicle crash in Knox County that injured four people, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies were looking for Ralpheal Cameron Coffey, 26, around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Claxton area for several outstanding warrants, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said. He said Coffey was spotted in a maroon Chevrolet Impala on Edgemoor Road.

“As deputies started to make a vehicle stop on Coffey, he began fleeing toward Clinton Highway on Edgemoor Road,” Lucas said. “Deputies began a pursuit that crossed Clinton Highway onto Raccoon Valley Road and into Knox County. Deputies lost sight of the vehicle as it went under the railroad trestle on Raccoon Valley Road in Heiskell.”

Witnesses pointed out that the vehicle turned southbound onto Heiskell Road toward Powell, Lucas said. But deputies were unable to locate the vehicle and terminated their pursuit. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man arrested, bond set at $100,000 in Knox trafficking case

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Zubin Percy Parakh

Zubin Percy Parakh

Note: This story was updated at 5:03 p.m.

An Oak Ridge man was arrested and booked into Knox County jail on a trafficking charge on Saturday, one day after Tennessee and Knoxville officials announced that 32 men and women had been arrested in an operation to combat human trafficking.

Bond for Zubin Percy Parakh, 32, of Golfcrest Lane in Oak Ridge, has been set at $100,000 on the trafficking charge. A preliminary hearing has been set for May 31, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office website.

The arrests and citations on prostitution and human trafficking-related charges were made as part of Operation Someone Like Me last week in Knoxville.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said two of the men, including a children’s minister, Jason Kennedy, 46, of Knoxville, responded to ads for what they thought were girls under the age of 18. Kennedy was a children’s minister at Grace Baptist Church on Oak Ridge Highway in Karns, but he has since been fired. [Read more…]

Two federal trials rescheduled: One for alleged bank extortion, second for federal gun charge

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Oak Ridge Police Department at Y-12 Federal Credit Union

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to an alleged kidnapping and attempted robbery at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, April 28, 2015. A trial for one of the defendants has been rescheduled to November 7, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Two federal trials for crimes allegedly committed in Oak Ridge, including one that involved an alleged bank extortion attempt, have been rescheduled.

The first trial had been scheduled for Tuesday, March 29, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. But it has been rescheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, November 7. That trial is for Michael Anthony Benanti, 43, of Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania.

Benanti and a co-defendant, Brian Scott Witham, 45, of Waterville, Maine, had been named in a 15-count indictment issued by a federal grand jury in December. They were accused of kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob three banks and credit unions in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Elizabethton. The Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge was one of the three financial institutions that was targeted.

Witham pleaded guilty March 1. His sentencing is set for August 17. He reportedly faces a minimum 42-year prison term, but could receive a life term. [Read more…]

One student arrested for bomb threat in Farragut; second identified in Hardin Valley threat

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A 16-year-old male student from Farragut High School was arrested for making a bomb threat at the school on Tuesday morning, and a second student who made a bomb threat at Hardin Valley Elementary has been identified, authorities said.

The arrest and identification were announced by the Major Crimes Unit of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.

Farragut High School was on lockdown on Tuesday while KCSO investigators searched the school and interviewed students and staff after a threat was found on a wall in a boys’ restroom. The 16-year-old is charged with vandalism and making a bomb threat, the KCSO said.

“Once again, cooperation between law enforcement and students and school officials helped solve the case,” authorities said. “KCSO is investigating other suspects and expects more arrests.”

The bomb threat at Hardin Valley Elementary was also made Tuesday, the Major Crimes Unit said. That investigation continues. [Read more…]

Girl, 16, charged with making bomb threat at Hardin Valley Academy

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Knox County Sheriff Badge

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office has charged a 16-year-old girl with making a bomb threat at Hardin Valley Academy last week, authorities said.

The teen is a student at the school and is charged with making a bomb threat and vandalism, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. The school was closed last Thursday after school officials found a bomb threat written on the girls’ bathroom wall.

The KCSO said that help solving the case came about because of the “See Something, Say Something” program that has been implemented by law enforcement in conjunction with the Knox County school system. Students and school officials came forward with information that aided the KCSO investigation, authorities said. [Read more…]

Trucks overturn in Anderson, Knox early Wednesday; roadways have re-opened

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The I-75 South ramp to I-640 East was closed Wednesday morning due to an overturned tractor trailer. (Photo courtesy TDOT/Mark Nagi via Twitter)

A tractor-trailer and a tanker truck overturned in Anderson and Knox counties on Wednesday morning, causing some temporary closures on roadways that have since re-opened.

The tanker truck crash was reported in Anderson County shortly after 5 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 75 at Mile Marker 120, authorities said. The truck went into the median and was leaking fuel from the tanker.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department responded along with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Anderson County EMS, Anderson County Rescue Squad, and Andersonville Fire Department. Anderson County Emergency Management was called to the scene to assess the fuel spill, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation also brought resources to contain and clean up the spill, authorities said. [Read more…]

Maine man pleads guilty in armed bank extortions, including at Y-12 Credit Union

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Brian Witham

Brian Witham

Note: This story was last updated at 5:40 p.m.

A Maine man charged in several armed bank extortion plots, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday, authorities said.

Brian Scott Witham, 45, of Waterville, Maine, pleaded guilty to the charges contained in a 15-count indictment from December 2015 involving armed bank extortions of the Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, SmartBank in Knoxville, and Northeast Community Credit Union in Elizabethton, said Nancy Stallard Harr, acting U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Tennessee. Witham is one of two people charged in the bank extortion scheme.

As part of his plea agreement, Witham agreed to plead guilty to similar charges from three other federal jurisdictions including the Western District of North Carolina, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the District of Connecticut, authorities said. Witham, U.S. attorneys, and a federal judge all agreed to transfer the similar charges to U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee, a press release said. Those charges include being a felon in possession of a firearm in Haywood County, North Carolina; armed robbery of an Ingles in Arden, North Carolina; armed robbery of the Peoples Security Bank and Trust in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania; and attempted armed bank extortion of the Achieve Financial Credit Union in New Britain, Connecticut, authorities said. [Read more…]