Oak Ridge Today

Reported crimes down 45 percent in Anderson County

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tbi-total-reported-crimes-2007-2013

The overall number of reported crimes in Anderson County fell 45 percent from 2007 to 2013, with the most dramatic drop during the past two years—2012 and 2013, Sheriff Paul White said in a recent press release.

Crimes against people have decreased 56.3 percent since 2007, crimes against society have fallen 42.5 percent, and crimes against property have dropped 41.1 percent, White said.

The most prevalent crimes in rural areas of the county are property crimes such as burglaries and thefts. Both have decreased significantly during the last two years, White said.

“This drop in overall crime can be directly attributed to proactive law enforcement and increased patrols of the rural areas of the county,” White said. “Added personnel in 2007 and 2008 have allowed directed patrols and enhanced investigations of property crimes. These efforts have resulted in more crimes solved and over 800 arrests for burglary and theft offenses since 2007.” [Read more…]

Reporter cleared after investigation into mayor’s missing keys

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Chris Silcox, Rick Meredith, Jay Yeager, and Terry Frank

Clinton Courier News reporter Chris Silcox, back left, and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, right, are pictured above at the May 19 meeting of the Anderson County Commission. Also pictured are Commissioner Rick Meredith, left, and Law Director Jay Yeager.

There was no evidence suggesting that a Clinton reporter intentionally took the county mayor’s keys after a recent Anderson County Commission meeting, and there is no evidence that a criminal violation occurred, authorities said last week.

The case is now closed, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a six-page supplemental report.

Clinton Courier News reporter Chris Silcox had been suspended from the county government beat at the weekly newspaper during the investigation. Courier News Publisher Allen Handley has since put Silcox back on the beat.

The missing keys report was filed by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank after an Anderson County Commission meeting on May 19. She told investigating officer Harold J. Crowley that she was unable to find her keys after looking under benches and bench pads in Room 312 at the Anderson County Courthouse after the County Commission meeting that night. She soon learned that Silcox had her keys, and he returned them, although some were still missing, the mayor said. [Read more…]

Anderson Sheriff taking part in Click It or Ticket, sobriety checkpoint

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Click It or Ticket Day and Night

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will take part in the Click It or Ticket-National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization by conducting saturation patrols during this Memorial Day holiday period, a press release said.

A sobriety checkpoint will also be held the evening of Friday, May 23, on Tri-County Boulevard in Oliver Springs. This will be a multi-agency effort sponsored by the Oliver Springs Police Department and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office.

The Click It or Ticket-National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization runs from May 19 through June 1, the press release said. [Read more…]

Man flees from deputies in his underwear

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A Lake City man was in custody Wednesday after turning himself in after fleeing from deputies early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Justin Lee McIntosh, 21, surrendered to jail officers Tuesday evening and was arrested on several outstanding warrants, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.

Earlier Tuesday morning, at about 3:30 a.m., patrol deputies went to his residence on Bolin Road near Lake City in an attempt to serve the arrest warrants. McIntosh broke out a side window of the home and fled from deputies—in his underwear, the Sheriff’s Department said. [Read more…]

Reporter taken off government beat after mayor files missing keys report

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Anderson County Courthouse

The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.

A reporter at the Clinton Courier News will be taken off the county government beat for now as authorities investigate a missing keys report filed Monday by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, the newspaper’s publisher said Tuesday.

Frank filed the missing keys report after the Monday night meeting of the Anderson County Commission in Clinton. She told Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Bradley A. Prewitt that she had stored her keys under a desk and noticed them missing sometime after 10:30 p.m. Monday. She said she had left her seat during the meeting to address the commission and for a break, and Courier News reporter Chris Silcox had sat in or near her seat at some point during the meeting, Prewitt wrote in an incident report.

After the meeting, Frank said Silcox contacted her and explained, via text message, that he had unintentionally grabbed her keys, mistaking them for his wife’s. Silcox made arrangements to return the keys to Richard Burroughs, Frank’s chief of staff, Prewitt said, but only the auto key fob and business key were returned.

“Ms. Frank advised that her home and office keys were still missing,” Prewitt said. [Read more…]

Sheriff: Two arrested, one with bulletproof vest, after guard chases burglary suspects

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Louis Edward Goodman

Louis Edward Goodman

Two Anderson County men, one wearing a bulletproof vest, were arrested Sunday after a security guard chased two burglary suspects from Southern Coal Co. on Airbase Lane in Briceville, authorities said.

The two men—Louis Edward Goodman, 24, of Oak Ridge, and Christopher Houston Harness, 24, of Briceville—fled into the woods after they were confronted, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a Monday morning press release.

Deputies responded to the burglary-in-progress report and located the two suspects after a search, authorities said. Goodman and Harness were taken into custody and charged with several offenses related to the burglary: burglary, felony property theft, and criminal trespassing. Goodman was also charged with the unlawful use of body armor “as he was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the offenses,” Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said. Harness was also charged with the possession of burglary tools. [Read more…]

Residents file ouster petition against Anderson County law director

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Twenty-two Anderson County residents have filed a petition in Chancery Court seeking to remove Law Director Jay Yeager from office, alleging misconduct that includes perjury, forgery, and having pornography on a county computer.

The ouster petition was filed Friday afternoon in Anderson County Chancery Court in Clinton. It alleges Yeager, who became law director in September 2006, committed perjury on his sworn application to become law director eight years ago, forged the signature of retired Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Avery Johnson two years ago, and had a pornographic image on a county computer that was found about three years ago.

The petition asks the court to immediately suspend Yeager from his official duties pending a decision by the court, and it requests a trial. If Yeager is guilty of one or more of the charges, the petition said, he should be ousted from office.

“I’m devastated,” Yeager said Friday evening. “It’s just another assassination on my character and on my good reputation and all I’ve done for Anderson County.”

He said he thinks the ouster suit is politically motivated, and he called it “baseless and unwarranted.” [Read more…]

Andersonville man dies in head-on collision with tractor-trailer

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Edgemoor Road Fatal Crash Truck Cleanup

Workers clean up and the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigates after a fatal two-vehicle crash between a pickup truck and tractor-trailer rig, pictured above on Edgemoor Road in Claxton on Wednesday morning.

CLAXTON—A 39-year-old Andersonville man died on Wednesday morning when the westbound pickup truck he was driving collided head-on with an eastbound tractor-trailer rig on Edgemoor Road in Claxton.

Michael T. Utley was headed west in a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup at about 6:11 a.m. Wednesday when he crossed the center line into the eastbound lane and hit a 2000 Freightliner semi pulling a trailer loaded with heavy steel coils, according to preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The driver of the semi, Edmund E. Wood, 57, of Madisonville, was not injured, the THP said. [Read more…]

Fatal crash on Edgemoor Road on Wednesday morning; motorists asked to avoid area

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Oak Ridge Today

Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m.

There was a fatal traffic crash involving a semi truck on Edgemoor Road at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

The crash closed a portion of Edgemoor Road between South Dogwood Road and Old Edgemoor Road near Clinton Highway. Traffic was rerouted in both directions down Old Edgemoor Road, said Mark Lucas, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy.

He said motorists are being asked to avoid the area.

The crash is being investigated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Lucas said THP and Sheriff’s Department units remained on the scene throughout the morning, and it wasn’t clear how much longer they would be there. [Read more…]

Teen charged with attempted murder in alleged stabbing

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Dakota Michael Rogers

Dakota Michael Rogers

A Knoxville teenager has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault in an alleged stabbing after a fight ensued when he went to pick up a car on Mehaffey Road in eastern Anderson County on March 24, authorities said.

Dakota Michael Rogers, 19, allegedly went to the home at about 9 p.m. March 24 to pay for a car and repay a female resident who had loaned him money for it, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department investigator Mark Bolton said in affidavits filed in General Sessions Court in Clinton.

But Rogers, who was arrested Monday, allegedly got into a fight with a male resident. It started in the living room and then spilled out onto the porch, according to the affidavits. Bolton said the two men do not get along.

The victim said the two men were separated by a porch rail, and when he walked to it, Rogers stabbed him in the belly near his belly button. The victim said he he did not see the knife. [Read more…]

Sexual act offered to investigator during prostitution investigation, sheriff says

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Young Hwa Park

Young Hwa Park

An employee at a spa in Anderson County offered a sexual act to a Sheriff’s Department investigator in exchange for money during an undercover prostitution investigation on Tuesday, authorities said.

Two women from Duluth, Ga., were arrested and charged with prostitution offenses, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

The investigation at the recently opened “spa” called King Accupressure on Andersonville Highway started after the Sheriff’s Department was notified by the Law Director’s Office, White said. The investigation led Sheriff’s Department officials to believe that prostitution activity was occurring, White said.

An undercover operation was conducted Tuesday, and an employee of the business offered a sexual act to an investigator in exchange for money, the sheriff said. [Read more…]

Two arrested after prostitution investigation, Sheriff’s Department says

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Anderson County Detention Facility

The Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is pictured above.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department arrested two people Tuesday afternoon after a prostitution investigation at a recently opened spa on Andersonville Highway near Norris, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said this morning.

The Sheriff’s Department is working with Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark on some additional enforcement action on the business, Lucas said, and more information should be released later today.

More information will be added as it becomes available.