aggravated robbery Archives

State asks to revoke or raise bond for robbery suspect

Posted at 8:09 pm January 20, 2023
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A prosecutor has asked an Anderson County judge to revoke or raise bond for a man charged with a robbery in Oak Ridge six years ago after he allegedly assaulted two deputies at the Anderson County jail in December.

Prosecutors have offered reasons for the delay in the robbery case, including the COVID-19 pandemic, several changes in attorneys, and a failure to appear.

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Appeals court upholds 30-year robbery sentence

Posted at 7:35 pm December 4, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A Tennessee appeals court this summer upheld a 30-year prison sentence against an Oliver Springs man convicted of aggravated robbery in Clinton, finding that the Anderson County trial court did not err in sentencing him as a career offender.

Wallace Wade Tidwell, 44, had been accused of robbing a Shell gas station on Charles Seivers Boulevard in Clinton in June 2015. A clerk testified at trial in April 2019 that Tidwell came out of the store’s bathroom, ordered her to give him the money in the cash register, lifted his shirt, and showed her what she thought was the butt of a gun in his waistband, according to a 14-page opinion filed by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville.

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Rocky Top woman pleads guilty to murder, sentenced to life

Posted at 5:48 pm June 7, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Christy Viola Comer, left, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, listens to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. At right is defense attorney Leslie Hunt. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

An Anderson County woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of J.C. Copeland, an 83-year-old Rocky Top man, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus an extra 20 years.

Christy Viola Comer, 41, entered the guilty plea in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Christy Viola Comer, left, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, listens to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. At right is defense attorney Leslie Hunt. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Christy Viola Comer, 41, entered the guilty plea in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Comer had planned to rob Copeland, who was described as a “sweet old man,” because “it would be easy,” according to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton in January 2019.

Comer traded some of the property stolen from Copeland’s home, a digital video disc player, for a $10 bag of methamphetamine, according to court testimony by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent John Hannon.

Copeland’s body was found partially wrapped in a pink blanket underneath a porch at a mobile home on Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top on August 31, 2018, Hannon said. Copeland is believed to have been strangled until he died, according to court records. There was white rope around his neck and other parts of his body, including his wrists and ankles, Hannon testified during the preliminary hearing.

“In the overnight hours of August 30, 2018, Christy Comer made the decision to rob him (Copeland) to get money for methamphetamine,” Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release Tuesday.

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For members: Man accused of robbing gas station on Emory Valley Road

Posted at 12:32 pm June 2, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A 34-year-old Oak Ridge man has been accused of robbing the store at the Shell gas station on Emory Valley Road in May.

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A 34-year-old Oak Ridge man has been accused of robbing the store at the Shell gas station on Emory Valley Road in May.

Arriean Latife O’Neal Kenebrew has been charged with aggravated robbery. He is accused of robbing the Bread Box food store at the Shell gas station on Emory Valley Road at about 10:10 p.m. May 2.

A 34-year-old Oak Ridge man has been accused of robbing the store at the Shell gas station on Emory Valley Road in May.

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CLINTON—A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year.

Bradley Allan Thomas, 31, received a 12-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. He will be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before he could be eligible for a parole hearing. Authorities had alleged that Thomas pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

Bradley Allan Thomas

A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year. Authorities had alleged that the man pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

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