Anderson County Sheriff's Department Archives

Affidavit: Woman admits stealing from 83-year-old who was allegedly killed

Posted at 1:42 pm September 5, 2018
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Christy Viola Comer

The Rocky Top woman charged with homicide last week admitted stealing from an 83-year-old man who was believed to have been strangled at his home on Friday, according to Anderson County court records.

The body of J.C. Copeland was found outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top on Friday morning, authorities said last week.

Agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force.

“During the course of the investigation, authorities developed information leading to Comer as an individual responsible for Copeland’s death,” the TBI said in a press release over the weekend.

An affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said Christy Viola Comer, 37, who has been charged with criminal homicide, conspired to participate in the robbery and killing of Copeland. Copeland is believed to have been strangled to death, the affidavit said. [Read more…]

Rocky Top woman charged with homicide in death of 83-year-old

Posted at 12:18 am September 2, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Christy Viola Comer

Note: This story was updated at 1:20 p.m. September 3.

A Rocky Top woman has been arrested and charged with homicide in the death of an 83-year-old man, state authorities said.

Christy Viola Comer, 37, was arrested by special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with help from several local law enforcement agencies, a TBI press release said.

On Friday morning, authorities found the body of J.C. Copeland outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top. TBI agents started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]

Knoxville man pleads guilty to reckless homicide after boy drowns

Posted at 2:28 pm August 22, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

James R. Baysinger

CLINTON—A Knoxville man pleaded guilty to reckless homicide on Friday in the death of a five-year-old boy in Anderson County about three years ago. The child was reported to have drowned after being reported missing.

James R. Baysinger, 63, pleaded guilty to the single count of reckless homicide in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday afternoon. As part of the plea deal, the state will not prosecute a second charge, aggravated child abuse or neglect when the victim, Odin Elwood Fitton, was less than eight years old.

Baysinger has a sentencing hearing scheduled for November 27.

There was no allegation in court on Friday that Baysinger intended to injure or kill Odin. Instead, the boy’s death was alleged to have resulted from recklessness.

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Reports: Deputy, prisoner injured in crash

Posted at 10:21 pm August 7, 2018
By John Huotari 2 Comments

Yoonsik Jung

An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy and a prisoner were injured in a three-vehicle rear-end crash at Interstate 75 early Sunday, and a Clinton man is facing charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving, among other counts, authorities said.

The crash was reported at about 1 a.m. Sunday on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard (Highway 61) at I-75.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Stanley, 49, of Knoxville, was transporting a prisoner for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria, and he was stopped at the traffic light at the I-75 southbound exit ramp when he was struck in the rear by a driver reported to be intoxicated, ACSD Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said. TWRA had made an arrest on Norris Lake for domestic assault, and the Sheriff’s Department had responded to transport the person who had been arrested to the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

Stanley, the deputy, was stopped for the red light when his car was hit in the rear, Lucas said. Both Stanley and the prisoner, Eric Allen Rose, 25, of Powell, were taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge by Anderson County EMS for non-life threatening injuries after the crash, Lucas said. [Read more…]

DA: Thousands of pills seized during investigation of international drug sales

Posted at 5:21 pm July 23, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Pictured above from left to right are Shelley Dawn Hicks Robbins, 44, of Anderson County; Moshin Agha, 30, of India; and Gene McKinley Miller, 43, of Anderson County. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

Thousands of pills were seized from a home in Anderson County during an investigation of prescription pills being shipped into the United States for distribution, possibly from Internet sales from international sources, authorities said Monday.

Three people have been indicted and arrested in the case. One was detained overseas this month, in the international airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said Dave Clark, Seventh Judicial District attorney general.

The apprehension of Moshin Agha, 30, of India, was reported first by Oak Ridge Today on Monday. In a press release Monday afternoon, Clark said Agha, who had been entered into a national police database, was located at the international airport in Dubai sometime in the late evening of Friday, July 13, or early the next morning.

Agha’s co-defendants, Shelley Dawn Hicks Robbins, 44, and Gene McKinley Miller, 43, both of Anderson County, have already pleaded guilty in the case. [Read more…]

TBI investigating inmate death at county jail

Posted at 9:00 pm July 18, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

April Michelle Beach

Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of an inmate at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on July 4.

April Michelle Beach, 36, of Rocky Top was picked up July 2 by an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy for a probation violation and a violation of her pre-trial release and booked into the jail.

On the morning of July 4, according to a source close to the investigation, she became ill and was transported by paramedics to the emergency room, where she was pronounced dead. [Read more…]

Investigation: Clinton man accused of threatening three judges

Posted at 5:52 pm July 18, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

CLINTON—A Clinton man accused of threatening to harm three Anderson County judges has a trial scheduled this week in Anderson County Criminal Court.

Details about the alleged threat aren’t available in an indictment filed by the Anderson County Grand Jury in October.

The 53-year-old man has had a dispute with Anderson County officials about searches of people at the security checkpoint near the elevators on the third floor of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. He has told deputies that they do not have the right to search him, objected to the metal detectors there, claimed that civil rights are being violated, and asserted the right to defend himself with deadly force against an unlawful act by a police officer, according to court records.

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Alcohol involved in nearly half of all deadly crashes on July 4

Posted at 11:24 am July 4, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Alcohol leads to nearly half of all deadly crashes on July 4, according to information provided by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

“Every year, Americans head out on our nation’s highways to celebrate the Fourth of July at picnics, parties, parades, and more,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a press release. “Regrettably, for many, the celebrating includes drinking alcohol, which often leads to drunk driving on one of the most heavily traveled holidays of the year.”

To crack down on drunk driving around Independence Day, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will be out in full force, aggressively targeting those who put lives in danger, the press release said. [Read more…]

Carjacking suspect arrested after hospital release

Posted at 10:05 pm June 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Bradley Allen Thomas

Note: This story was updated at 10:30 p.m.

The suspect in the carjacking of a van occupied by a woman in a wheelchair on Saturday, followed by a police chase and crash, was arrested after he was released from a hospital on Thursday, authorities said.

Bradley Allan Thomas, 30, of Knoxville, was arrested by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies when he was released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said. Thomas, who was seriously injured, had been taken to UT Medical Center after the Saturday afternoon crash at Clinton Highway and Powell Drive in Knox County.

Thomas is the suspect charged in the carjacking in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge on Saturday afternoon, Lucas said.

“Oak Ridge Police officers served their warrants related to the carjacking, and Thomas was also served with warrants on the pursuit by deputies,” Lucas said after Thursday’s arrest. [Read more…]

More charges pending after carjacking, chase, crash

Posted at 5:59 pm June 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The driver of a vehicle allegedly stolen from a woman in a wheelchair in Oak Ridge on Saturday, June 23, 2018, fled from law enforcement officers, running red lights and passing vehicles in the turn lane at high speed, before crashing into a car and a traffic light pole on Clinton Highway at Powell Drive in Knox County, an incident report said. (Submitted photo)

More charges are pending after a carjacking of a van occupied by a woman in a wheelchair in Oak Ridge on Saturday led to a police chase and crash on Clinton Highway in Knox County.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has already said it would seek warrants against the suspect, Bradley Allan Thomas, 30, of Knoxville, and the Oak Ridge Police Department said criminal charges are pending.

Now, in a preliminary crash report, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said it is filing its own charges. They include reckless endangerment, reckless driving, obedience to traffic control signal, failure to maintain lane, improper passing, and driving on a suspended license.

“These are all THP charges and do not include outside agencies’ pending charges,” the crash report said.

An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report said deputies would seek warrants against Thomas for evading arrest and reckless endangerment. [Read more…]

Driver of van stolen from woman in wheelchair fled, crashed

Posted at 12:19 am June 27, 2018
By John Huotari 4 Comments

The driver of a van allegedly stolen from a woman in a wheelchair in Oak Ridge on Saturday, June 23, 2018, fled from law enforcement officers, running red lights and passing vehicles in the turn lane at high speed, before crashing into a car and a traffic light pole on Clinton Highway at Powell Drive in Knox County, an incident report said. (Submitted photo)

Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m. June 28.

The driver of a van allegedly stolen from a woman in a wheelchair in Oak Ridge on Saturday fled from law enforcement officers, running red lights and passing vehicles in the turn lane at high speed, before crashing into a car and a traffic light pole on Clinton Highway in Knox County, an incident report said.

The carjacking was reported in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant on South Illinois Avenue at about 1:50 p.m. Saturday, the Oak Ridge Police Department said. During the carjacking, a female passenger, who was not injured, was forced from her wheelchair and the van, a 2003 Chevy Venture.

Alerted to the carjacking, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Corporal Jonathan Acker went to Oak Ridge Turnpike and Melton Lake Drive to watch for the vehicle. After a few minutes, he saw it traveling east on Oak Ridge Turnpike, and he turned to get behind it.

The driver, later identified as Bradley Allan Thomas, 30, of Knoxville, began speeding up and passing cars on the shoulder, Acker said in the incident report. [Read more…]

Drug Awareness Day is Saturday at Oak Ridge Pool

Posted at 11:58 am June 14, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Sixth Annual Drug Awareness Day is Saturday at the Oak Ridge Municipal Pool.

It’s hosted by the Oak Ridge Chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks.

The pool is located at 172 Providence Road.

Drug awareness demonstrations will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the pool area Saturday. [Read more…]