Oak Ridge Today

COVID-19 cases up to 1,203 in Tenn. with six deaths

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Note: This story was last updated at 9:30 a.m. March 29.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Tennessee increased to 1,203 on Friday, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.

That’s up from 957 on Thursday, a 23 percent increase.

It’s up more than five times from 228 the previous week (Friday, March 20).

There are now four cases confirmed in Anderson County. That’s up from three on Thursday. It’s not clear if the four cases include the two that have been publicly disclosed, one at the Anderson County Courthouse and one at Y-12 National Security Complex, because it’s not clear where those two patients live or were tested.

There have been six deaths in Tennessee due to COVID-19 and 103 hospitalizations, the Tennessee Department of Health said in its afternoon list published Friday.

[Read more…]

DA: Cromwell, other ‘sovereign citizens’ convicted in fraudulent liens case

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Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide in a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after July 4 fireworks two years ago, was sentenced to 12 years in prison during a hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide in a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after July 4 fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015, was sentenced to 12 years in prison during a hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 19, 2017. In a separate case, Cromwell was convicted this week in Nashville along with four other defendants in a fraudulent liens case, and he will be sentenced June 27. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. May 4.

Five “sovereign citizens,” including Lee Cromwell of Oak Ridge, were convicted of more than 200 counts in Nashville this week in a case where the defendants had been accused of filing fraudulent liens against local and state officials in East Tennessee, including judges, prosecutors, and police officers in Anderson County, an official said Thursday.

Before the convictions, seven sovereign citizens from Anderson County had been charged in February 2017 with forgery and filing liens without a legal basis, Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release Thursday. Those charges came after an investigation that had been requested by Clark and was conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Many of the cases were tried in Nashville, and a jury returned a verdict this week of guilty on all counts, Clark said. Clark and his wife were both victims of the fraudulent liens, so Clark had requested another district attorney general to prosecute the case.

“As the liens were filed electronically at the Secretary of State’s Office in Nashville, it made sense to have the defendants indicted and prosecuted in Davidson County,” Clark said. [Read more…]

Mayors, sheriffs also had fraudulent liens filed against them, indictment says

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More public officials, including at least two county mayors and two sheriffs, have been the victims of the allegedly fraudulent liens that led to the indictment announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville on Thursday, after arrests in East Tennessee on Wednesday.

Information about the liens is contained in the 302-count indictment filed in Davidson County on January 20. That indictment came after a one-year investigation by state and federal authorities into fraudulent liens filed by East Tennessee residents. The TBI said 11 people were indicted, and 10 had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon. Seven of those arrested were from Anderson County.

Among the officials that have confirmed that they they were the victims of liens alleged to be fraudulent are Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Roane County Executive Ron Woody, and Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton.

Oak Ridge Today has already reported on some of the police officers and law enforcement officials and agencies in Oak Ridge and Anderson County that have been named in the $137 million worth of liens filed by Lee Harold Cromwell, who was one of the 10 people arrested Wednesday.

Other victims named in the 302-count indictment that haven’t previously been identified: Don A. Layton, Daryl R. Fansler, Jimmy Jones, Ronald Nathan Murch, and Steve R. Queener. [Read more…]

Five confirmed bullying cases in Oak Ridge last year, state report says

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Oak Ridge Schools School Administration Building

Oak Ridge Schools reported five confirmed cases of bullying in the 2012-2013 school year. The Oak Ridge Schools’ School Administration Building is pictured above.

There were five confirmed cases of bullying in Oak Ridge Schools last year, a number that is much lower than in many other school districts across the state and in some other nearby districts.

The numbers were reported in a new, first-of-its kind report that said there were 7,555 reported cases of bullying in Tennessee schools last year. Nearly 73 percent of them—or 5,478 cases—were confirmed after investigation.

The report said Oak Ridge Schools had 14 bullying cases reported in the 2012-2013 school year, but only five were confirmed after investigation. All five of those were related to sex or gender discrimination, the report said. [Read more…]