Note: This story was updated at 10:20 a.m. July 15.
The man who died in an aircraft crash along Smith Road east of Oliver Springs Airport on Saturday has been identified as Patrick Scott Lucas, 45, of Morristown.
Family members have been notified, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Federal Aviation Administration will start a crash investigation today (Sunday, July 14), said Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
[Read more…]Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m. July 14.
One person died in a hang glider crash near Oliver Springs Airport in Anderson County on Saturday, authorities said.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the crash just after 5 p.m. Saturday, said Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Sheriff’s Office. But it’s not clear what time the crash occurred.
The crash was along Smith Road east of the airport. It’s not clear if the hang glider had any connection to the airport.
[Read more…]
Roughly an ounce of methamphetamine and other narcotics were found during Friday morning searches on Ridgeview Drive in Oliver Springs, law enforcement officers said.
The searches were led by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force, which had three search warrants. The search operation included the CTF, Oliver Springs Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, and Oak Ridge Police Department, a press release said.
ACSO and ORPD SWAT executed two of the three search warrants at the same time, the press release said. The third search warrant was executed shortly after the first two were clear, the release said.
[Read more…]
Without a tax rate increase or other new revenues, the Anderson County Schools budget could include more than $1.4 million in cuts, compared to last year, school officials said during an Anderson County Board of Education meeting on Thursday, May 16, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
CLINTON—Without a tax rate increase or other new revenues, the Anderson County Schools budget could include more than $1.4 million in cuts, compared to last year, school officials said Thursday.
The cuts could include reductions in elementary school, middle school, and high school positions, and Central Office, technology, custodial, and maintenance staff; cuts to materials and supplies, and band equipment at the high schools; not finishing the gymnasium at Grand Oaks Elementary School; cutting a full-time nurse, high school coaching supplements, and a school resource officer vehicle; and reductions to transportation safety, special education assistants, and City of Rocky Top field maintenance, among a long list of potential cuts.
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On April 4, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office arrested David Andrew Cox, 55, on a warrant from Gilchrist County, Florida, alleging Cox engaged in sexual activity with a child under the age of 12 by a family member or custodial authority. The bond on the arrest was $1 million with nationwide extradition.
In late November, detectives with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office were contacted by Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office about a possible child sex abuse act that occurred in their county, the ACSO said in a press release Thursday. The victim, a minor child, became pregnant after the alleged abuse. They advised that the alleged perpetrator, Cox, was living in the Oliver Springs community in Anderson County. The alleged act took place while Cox was visiting his family in Florida.
[Read more…]
Kayvin James Grate
Note: This story was updated at 11:05 p.m.
Authorities found several types of drugs—including suspected heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and hydrocodone—and arrested a Powell man in Claxton on Thursday on multiple charges of possessing drugs for sale, a press release said.
Agents from the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County were conducting surveillance around the Bread Box gas station on Edgemoor Road in Claxton when, just before 5 p.m. Thursday, they saw Kayvin Grate, 28, of Powell, conduct a hand-to-hand transaction with an unidentified male at the rear of the business, the press release said.
Immediately after that, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived in the parking lot of the gas station, said the press release, which was from the office of Sheriff Russell Barker.
“Once Grate spotted the deputy’s marked vehicle, Grate turned quickly and began walking away from the gas station and into a wooded area,” the press release said. “Grate was given verbal commands to stop and was quickly detained. Prior to be detained, Grate dropped multiple items on the ground, which were determined to be a cell phone and two plastic baggies containing suspected heroin. After search of his person, a Ford key fob was recovered.” [Read more…]
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents of a jury duty scammer that is using the name of a deputy currently employed with the Sheriff’s Office.
The scammer called a Clinton woman on Monday claiming to be Sheriff’s Office employee Kenny Sharp, a press release said. The scammer told her she missed jury duty and would be arrested if she did not pay $729.00.
The Clinton resident went to her credit union, and after she explained what had happened, they advised her to go to the Sheriff’s Office because they believed she had been scammed, the press release said. [Read more…]
Walter John Meachum
A Caryville man suspected of robbing a Pilot Travel Center in east Knox County on Tuesday was arrested at a motel in Rocky Top in Anderson County on Wednesday, authorities said.
They said Walter John Meachum, 21, has been charged with aggravated robbery for an alleged armed robbery just before 2 a.m. Tuesday at the Pilot Travel Center at 1915 East Raccoon Valley Road in Knox County.
On Tuesday, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect was armed with a black and silver weapon, according to the initial investigation. Authorities said the suspect fled west on Raccoon Valley Road in a silver convertible with a black top after receiving an undisclosed amount of money from the business. He was described as wearing a skull mask, black hooded jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans at the time of the robbery.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said Meachum was arrested early Wednesday morning at the Scottish Inn in Rocky Top by its Major Crimes Unit in conjunction with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, and Rocky Top Police Department. As of Wednesday, Meachum was being held at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on a $20,000 bond. [Read more…]
Forty-two people have been arrested in a conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine using pseudoephedrine in Anderson and Campbell counties, and another 17 have been indicted, authorities said.
The arrests and indictments of the 59 people on July 16 followed an investigation by more than a dozen agencies. The investigation found that those involved were buying pseudoephedrine at local pharmacies and using it to manufacture methamphetamine at various places in the two counties, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a Thursday press release.
Those indicted include: [Read more…]
Dave Clark
Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark last week moved to declare a new business a nuisance and close it down because of its alleged role in prostitution, a press release said.
The business is King Accupressure at 2683 Andersonville Highway in Anderson County.
The enforcement action was the result of an undercover investigation by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office that started almost immediately after King Accupressure opened, Clark said in the release. He said a deputy posed as a customer and alleged in a criminal complaint that he was solicited for prostitution.
Two women were taken into custody at the scene, Clark said. [Read more…]
Jeffery Scott Braden
Two Anderson County men convicted of conspiring to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine were sentenced to lengthy prison terms this week, federal officials said Friday.
Officials estimate that the conspiracy resulted in the production of about 1,500 grams of methamphetamine.
Jeffrey Scott Braden, 37, of Vowell Mountain—the only one of 42 people indicted in the conspiracy to go to trial—received a mandatory life sentence on Thursday in a hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville, officials said.
Then, on Friday, Varlan sentenced conspiracy leader Lawrence “Stoney” Scriver, 46, of Lake City, to serve 30 years, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release. [Read more…]
Jefferson Middle School
Jefferson Middle School was briefly locked down early Thursday afternoon as police searched for a person armed with a handgun at a nearby business.
The Oak Ridge Police Department began searching for the person at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday after receiving information that the individual, who is not identified in a press release, had just left the Clinton area and might be on the way to the west end of Oak Ridge.
“Oak Ridge police personnel from the Patrol, Criminal Investigations, and Administration divisions immediately deployed throughout the city to locate the individual, and at approximately 12:52 p.m., information was received that the individual may have been in a vehicle in the Home Depot parking lot in Oak Ridge,” an ORPD press release said. “Oak Ridge police unmarked units identified a vehicle matching the description of the individual’s vehicle in the parking lot and requested the Jefferson Middle School initiate a lockdown, as it was nearby. [Read more…]
