Oak Ridge Today

Man charged with attempted murder

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Jeremy Jon Bessette

Jeremy Jon Bessette

 

One Oak Ridge man was beaten in the head with a wrench on Thursday after a social media conversation, and another was charged with attempted murder after an alleged assault on South Walker Lane.

The victim, Andrew Steelman, had been talking to someone on social media that he thought was the girlfriend of Jeremy Jon Bessette, 40, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

But it turned out that Steelman was not talking to Bessette’s girlfriend, but rather to Bessette, who was posing online as his girlfriend while Steelman “flirted with her,” the affidavits said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department first learned of the incident when they were notified of a physical disturbance on South Walker Lane at 1:53 p.m. Thursday. There, a witness said a man, later identified as Bessette, entered the home and began hitting another man in the head with what appeared to be a wrench, according to the affidavits, which were filed by ORPD Officer Perry Lewis.

The alleged assailant then got into a dark-colored Pontiac and fled, the affidavits said. [Read more…]

Attempted carjacking charge added in crash that injured officer

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Khristoff Deshawn Lee

An attempted carjacking charge has been added to the eight charges already filed against a man accused of injuring an Oak Ridge officer when he fled from police and crashed on South Illinois Avenue last week.

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Khristoff Deshawn Lee

Khristoff Deshawn Lee

An attempted carjacking charge has been added to the eight charges already filed against a man accused of injuring an Oak Ridge officer when he fled from police and crashed on South Illinois Avenue last week.

Khristoff Deshawn Lee

An attempted carjacking charge has been added to the eight charges already filed against a man accused of injuring an Oak Ridge officer when he fled from police and crashed on South Illinois Avenue last week.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.

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If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

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Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

Officer injured in crash released from hospital

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An Oak Ridge Police Department officer was injured in a crash and children were taken to the hospital after a fugitive crashed a car as he fled from police on Wednesday, April 5, 2018, authorities said. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge/Oak Ridge Police Department)

The Oak Ridge Police Department officer injured in a crash allegedly caused by a fugitive who was fleeing from police on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, has been released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, a spokesperson said Friday. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge/Oak Ridge Police Department)

  Note: This story was last updated at 9:55 a.m. The officer injured in a crash allegedly caused by a fugitive who was fleeing from police on Wednesday has been released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, a spokesperson confirmed Friday. Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Nathan Gibson was injured while trying to make a traffic stop and serve a warrant on Khristoff Deshawn Lee, 24, of Oak Ridge, on South Illinois Avenue at about 12:37 p.m. Wednesday, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. Gibson has been discharged, UT Medical Center spokesperson Susan Wyatt said Friday afternoon. No information is available on his present condition. It’s not clear what charges might have been in the warrant Gibson was trying to serve on Lee on Wednesday, but a writ of criminal capias had been issued for Lee after he failed to appear at a plea agreement hearing on attempted first-degree murder and robbery charges, among other pending charges, in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on August 14. [Read more…]

Woman receives three-year sentence in drug overdose

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Heather Marie Rau

Heather Marie Rau

 

An Oak Ridge woman received a three-year prison sentence in a plea agreement on Monday after a drug overdose that reportedly involved a fentanyl analogue last year left a man unconscious on a hallway floor with a very weak pulse and unable to breathe on his own.

Heather Mariue Rau, 30, pleaded guilty in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday to charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment with illegal narcotics (acrylfentanyl), promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drugs for sale, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Those charges were from two separate indictments against Rau last year.

A second, duplicate charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Rau must pay court costs and fines that appear to total close to $9,000, according to criminal judgements filed by the Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk. She will receive credit for time served after being jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton since February 16, 2017. As a standard offender, her release eligibility has been set at 30 percent. [Read more…]

Woman arrested for probation violation after fatal creek crash

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Rebecca L. Vanasse

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…]

Man accused of robbing pregnant woman, kicking her in stomach

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Jordan Lamar Young

Jordan Lamar Young

 

An Oak Ridge man allegedly broke into an apartment on Utica Circle on Monday, threatened a pregnant woman while brandishing a folding pocket knife, and demanded prescriptions and cash, Anderson County court records said. When the woman resisted, the court records said, she was thrown to the ground and kicked in the stomach, and the man jammed his knee into her back to try to get her to comply.

“The victim was in fear of great bodily harm or death to herself or her unborn child,” according to affidavits filed Tuesday in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

The affidavits, filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Investigator A. Marvell Moore, said the victim is seven months pregnant.

After the alleged home invasion robbery, the suspect, Jordan Lamar Young, 31, of Tuskegee Drive, fled the apartment with the pregnant woman’s prescription medication and $301 in cash, the affidavits said. [Read more…]

Man charged with attempted murder in alleged baseball bat attack

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Clayton Perry Jones

Clayton Perry Jones

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3:45 p.m. March 22. 

An Anderson County man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly beating another man in the head, arms, and back with a baseball bat at a car wash in Oliver Springs in the summer of 2016, according to court records.

Clayton Perry Jones, 53, of Dutch Valley Road, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on Tuesday, March 13, on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a weapon, according to court records. He has an arraignment scheduled for March 26 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

Jones is accused of beating Brett Blank in the head, back, and arms with a baseball bat as Blank was cleaning his vehicle at the Sportsman Car Wash on East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Thursday, July 14, 2016, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on July 13, 2017.

The alleged beating was stopped by a witness with a handgun who was also at the car wash cleaning his vehicle, which was parked in front of Blank’s vehicle, according to the affidavit. The armed witness, Hank Mullins, saw Jones hitting Blank with the baseball bat, and Mullins revealed his concealed-carry handgun to deter the fight and told them to “Stop! Stop! Stop!” according to the affidavit. Both Blank and Jones then ran in opposite directions, said the affidavit, which was filed by Oliver Springs Police Department Patrolman Samuel Seiber. [Read more…]

Attempted murder charge sent to grand jury in Claxton shooting

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

 

CLINTON—An attempted first-degree murder charge has been sent to the grand jury in a case involving an Oak Ridge man accused of shooting and injuring two men and shooting near a woman but not hitting her.

Two charges of reckless endangerment were also bound over, or sent to the grand jury. Those charges had initially been filed as attempted first-degree murder.

A preliminary hearing for Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 23, was held Wednesday, March 7, in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Rutherford had originally been charged with a total of three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of reckless endangerment. One count of reckless endangerment was dismissed during the preliminary hearing last week, meaning Rutherford faces the one attempted first-degree murder charge and the two counts of reckless endangerment that were originally attempted murder. [Read more…]

Two charged in alleged robbery that started with car sale

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Michael Sharp

Michael Rodney Sharp

 

Two people have been charged in an alleged robbery that started with a car sale, court records said.

The robbery was reported to have occurred on Bolin Road on the west side of Rocky Top on Thursday, February 22.

The two people charged with aggravated robbery in the case are Michael Rodney Sharp, 50, and Stephanie Jean Hoskins, 29, who both live on Bolin Road, according to Anderson County jail records.

The victim reported going to Bolin Road to buy a car from Sharp, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Stanley.

While she was talking to Sharp, the victim said, Hoskins hit her in the back of the head with a stick, knocking her unconscious, according to the affidavits. The victim said she was unconscious for about five minutes. [Read more…]

Warrant: Gun fired as shooting victim tried to grab it during argument

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Christopher Lee Roberts

Christopher Lee Roberts

 

The defendant in a fatal shooting near Clinton on Thursday pulled out a gun during an argument, and it fired when the victim tried to grab it, according to court records.

After the shooting, the defendant, Christopher Lee Roberts, 45, who has been charged with criminal homicide, repeatedly said “I just f****d up” or “I messed up,” according to home owner Martin “Chris” Alsop and resident Michael Carroll.

The shooting, which killed Bradley Charles Bivens, 48, was reported at 611 Sinking Springs Road in Anderson County at about 9 p.m. Thursday. [Read more…]

Attempted murder charge sent to grand jury

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William Molette

William Molette

 

An attempted first-degree murder charge filed against an Oak Ridge man who allegedly admitted to shooting a woman over a grudge related to having to surrender a puppy has been sent to the grand jury, according to Anderson County court records.

William Antwon Molette, 44, had a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, February 13.

Besides attempted first-degree murder, two other charges filed against Molette were bound over to the grand jury: armed dangerous felonies and violation of the sex offender registry.

One charge of armed dangerous felonies was dismissed. [Read more…]

Two hit in arms during Claxton shooting

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

 

CLAXTON—Two men were hit in the arms during the shooting in Claxton on Saturday evening, January 13, and the Oak Ridge man charged with attempted murder in the case also shot at a woman but missed, according to court records.

The shooting at the home at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Lonesome Dove Road allegedly occurred “during some type of altercation” in a bedroom, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 23, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of reckless endangerment in the shooting.

The affidavits, which summarize the alleged facts of the case and are attached to arrest warrants, said Rutherford pulled a handgun from his waistband during the altercation, pointed it at Nathan Phillips, 36, and fired. Phillips had two gunshot wounds to his left upper arm, the affidavits said. [Read more…]