Roane County Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Woman arrested for probation violation after fatal creek crash

Posted at 11:42 am March 22, 2018
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Rebecca L. Vanasse

An Oak Ridge woman was arrested on a probation violation charge after a fatal crash in Poplar Creek in Roane County on Tuesday, authorities said.

Rebecca L. Vanasse, 26, of North Purdue Avenue, was arrested by the Oak Ridge Police Department on the violation of probation charge on Tuesday, according to Anderson County court and jail records. A hold has also been placed on Vanasse for Rhea County, and she remained jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Thursday morning, according to those records.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas confirmed that Vanasse is the same woman who has been identified as the driver in the fatal creek crash on Poplar Creek Road on Tuesday. She was arrested by ORPD after she was treated and released from the emergency room, Lucas said.

“We had a probation violation warrant and Rhea County had a warrant as well,” he said. [Read more…]

Criminal charges pending in fatal crash in Poplar Creek

Posted at 12:40 pm March 21, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A 50-year-old Rocky Top man died when a 2006 Mazda car crashed off Poplar Creek Road and into Poplar Creek just north of west Oak Ridge late Tuesday morning, authorities said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A 50-year-old Rocky Top man died when a 2006 Mazda 3 car crashed off Poplar Creek Road and into Poplar Creek just north of west Oak Ridge late Tuesday morning, authorities said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

ROANE COUNTY—A 50-year-old Rocky Top man died and one person was injured when a car crashed off Poplar Creek Road and into Poplar Creek just north of west Oak Ridge late Tuesday morning, and criminal charges are pending, authorities said.

The man who died, Warner D. Martin, was a passenger in a silver 2006 Mazda 3 four-door car driven by Rebecca L. Vanasse, 26, of Oak Ridge, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Carrying three people, the car swerved on the narrow, curvy road and overcorrected, the THP said in a fatality report. Because of the overcorrection, the vehicle went down an embankment along the westbound side of the road and into the creek, where it became fully submerged, the THP said.

The single-vehicle crash was reported on Poplar Creek Road a few miles east of Blair Road at about 11:04 a.m. Tuesday. The front end of the car appeared to have plunged into the creek first. [Read more…]

Authorities investigate car crash in creek in Roane County

Posted at 12:47 pm March 20, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

.ROANE COUNTY–Authorities are investigating a car crash in a creek alongside Poplar Creek Road in Roane County early Tuesday afternoon.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

TBI investigating officer-involved shooting in Roane County

Posted at 11:52 am September 18, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating a shooting that involved a Roane County officer on Saturday morning. Ninth District Attorney General Russell Johnson requested the help of TBI agents, a press release said.

Preliminary information indicates the incident occurred at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, when deputies from the Roane County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident at 352 Mays Valley Road, the TBI said.

“Deputies arriving at the scene were confronted with a male individual with a weapon, and that man, since identified as David Daugherty, 47, was shot during that confrontation,” the TBI said. Daugherty was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment, the TBI said. No deputies were injured during the incident.

Mays Valley Road is west of Oliver Springs and Blair Road, north of the western part of Oak Ridge, and south of Harriman Highway (State Route 61), which connects Oliver Springs and Harriman. [Read more…]

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

Posted at 5:20 pm February 17, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

Posted at 4:35 pm February 16, 2017
By John Huotari 1 Comment

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

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…]

More information on local firefighters, law enforcement responding to Gatlinburg fires

Posted at 4:27 pm November 29, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

clinton-fire-department-in-gatlinburg-2-nov-29-2016

The Clinton Fire Department is pictured above responding to the fires in Sevier County on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. (Photo by Clinton Fire Department)

We have more information on local firefighters and law enforcement that have either responded to help fight the fires in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park—or remain in standby in case they are needed.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas and other officials said Andersonville, Claxton, Clinton, Marlow, Oak Ridge, and Oliver Springs fire departments all sent resources to the fire.

Anderson County EMS sent its mass casualty response vehicle on Monday night, and they sent three ambulances Tuesday morning, Lucas said.

Lucas said he talked to Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals on Monday night, and Anderson County deputies are on stand-by in case Sevier County needs additional law enforcement personnel. [Read more…]

Here are places you can drop off supplies to donate to firefighters

Posted at 2:35 pm November 29, 2016
By John Huotari 2 Comments

great-smoky-mountains-national-park-firefighters-nov-29-2016

Firefighters are pictured above in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this week. (Photo by Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

Note: This story was last updated at 3:45 p.m.

There are a number of places you can drop off supplies to donate to the firefighters battling destructive blazes in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Here are several, with two in Oak Ridge, one in Clinton, and one in Roane County: [Read more…]

Roane crash leads to alleged carjacking

Posted at 11:44 am September 14, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

Authorities in Roane County spent part of Tuesday searching for a man suspected of carjacking another motorist after crashing his own car earlier in the day.

Authorities responded to the scene of a one-vehicle crash on Old Harriman Highway shortly after 7:45 a.m. Tuesday and found the two passengers—Randall Rhodey of Clinton and David Russo of Oak Ridge—suffering from injuries. They were taken to Methodist Medical Center for treatment of those injuries. The driver of the car, however, was not immediately located as he had already fled the area by the time officers arrived. [Read more…]

Roane crash during police pursuit kills Powell woman; driver, 15, injured

Posted at 2:18 pm August 25, 2016
By John Huotari 1 Comment

A 20-year-old Powell woman died in a single-vehicle crash during a police pursuit on Poplar Creek Road in Roane County on Wednesday afternoon, and a 15-year-old male driver was injured, authorities said. (Photo by Tom Scott)

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the juvenile, a Harriman boy who was not identified because of his age, was fleeing from police in a 1998 Dodge pickup at about 3:06 p.m. when he lost control of the truck. It ran off the road and hit a rock wall or cavern opening, the THP said.

Holland Durbrow, 20, was killed in the impact, the THP said. She was not using a seat belt, according to a preliminary report.

WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that Harriman police officers tried to pull over a pickup that had been reported stolen Wednesday afternoon, but the young driver refused to stop. At one point during the pursuit, officers lost sight of the truck on Poplar Creek Road, WSYH said. Moments later, officers came upon the crash scene. [Read more…]

Harriman man killed in Roane County crash

Posted at 10:45 am July 30, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

A Harriman man died in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 61 in Roane County on Friday, authorities said.

Martin J. Palenski, 37, was not wearing a seat belt, and he was ejected when the car he was driving rolled after hitting an embankment at about 12:36 p.m. Friday, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

The THP said Palenski was driving a 2002 Ford Taurus west on Highway 61. While going around a righthand curve, the Taurus went off the left side of the road, a crash report said. Palenski overcorrected and hit an embankment on the right side of the road, the THP said. The Taurus then rolled, and Palenski was ejected, the THP said. [Read more…]

OS man faces charges after head-on collision injures three on Hwy 61

Posted at 8:56 pm January 17, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

An Oliver Springs man is facing charges, including driving under the influence, after a head-on collision injured three people in two vehicles on Highway 61 west of Oliver Springs late Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tom Scott)

OLIVER SPRINGS—An Oliver Springs man is facing charges, including driving under the influence, after a head-on collision injured three people in two vehicles on Highway 61 west of Oliver Springs late Friday afternoon, authorities said.

Ryan P. Price, 33, of Oliver Springs, will be charged with DUI, vehicular assault, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm while under the influence, a due care violation, failure to maintain lane, violation of the financial responsibility law, and a failure to carry registration, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The THP said a 2003 Dodge Durango driven by Price was traveling east in the westbound lane on State Route 61 near Scandlyn Hollow Road in Roane County at about 4:55 p.m. Friday.

A 2014 Jeep Wrangler driven west by Rodger Mattox, 66, of Oliver Springs, was also in the westbound lane, which was its travel lane, the THP said. [Read more…]