Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge woman charged with murder in death of infant daughter in Knoxville

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Heather-Renee-Keylon

Heather Renee Keylon

Note: This story was last updated at 1 p.m.

A woman listed as an Oak Ridge resident was arrested Saturday on murder and child abuse charges for the death of her three-month-old daughter due to a drug overdose in Knoxville in April 2015, authorities said.

Heather Renee Keylon, 31, of 134 Waddell Circle in Oak Ridge, is facing charges of felony murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated child neglect, the Knoxville Police Department said. She was arrested Saturday and taken to the Knox County jail, where her bond has been set at $1 million.

Police responded to an unresponsive infant call at 3534 Old Valley View Drive, Apartment Number 12, in north Knoxville at about 12:39 p.m. April 21, 2015.

Keylon told police that her infant daughter, Skylar Brewer, had stopped breathing, the KPD said. The child had gone to sleep on the sofa, Keylon said, but she realized a short time later that Skylar wasn’t breathing and she called 911, authorities said. [Read more…]

Maine man pleads guilty in armed bank extortions, including at Y-12 Credit Union

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Brian Witham

Brian Witham

Note: This story was last updated at 5:40 p.m.

A Maine man charged in several armed bank extortion plots, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday, authorities said.

Brian Scott Witham, 45, of Waterville, Maine, pleaded guilty to the charges contained in a 15-count indictment from December 2015 involving armed bank extortions of the Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, SmartBank in Knoxville, and Northeast Community Credit Union in Elizabethton, said Nancy Stallard Harr, acting U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Tennessee. Witham is one of two people charged in the bank extortion scheme.

As part of his plea agreement, Witham agreed to plead guilty to similar charges from three other federal jurisdictions including the Western District of North Carolina, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the District of Connecticut, authorities said. Witham, U.S. attorneys, and a federal judge all agreed to transfer the similar charges to U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee, a press release said. Those charges include being a felon in possession of a firearm in Haywood County, North Carolina; armed robbery of an Ingles in Arden, North Carolina; armed robbery of the Peoples Security Bank and Trust in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania; and attempted armed bank extortion of the Achieve Financial Credit Union in New Britain, Connecticut, authorities said. [Read more…]

Second suspect in bank extortion, carjacking plots also pleads not guilty

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Michael Benanti

Michael Benanti

KNOXVILLE—A second suspect has also pleaded not guilty to three alleged bank extortion and carjacking plots that involved bank employees and their family members, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge.

One of the suspects, Brian Witham, pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday.

The second suspect, Michael Benanti, pleaded not guilty during a Friday afternoon arraignment.

Each man is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 142 years in prison, if they are convicted on all 15 federal charges that they face. The charges include bank extortion, attempted bank extortion, carjacking, and brandishing a firearm while committing a crime. [Read more…]

Suspect in bank extortion, carjacking plots could face mandatory minimum of 142 years in prison

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Oak Ridge Police Department at Y-12 Federal Credit Union

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a kidnapping and attempted robbery at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, April 28, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:10 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—One of the two suspects in three alleged bank extortion and carjacking plots that involved bank employees and their family members, including at Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 142 years in prison, if he is convicted on all 15 charges that he faces, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

Brian Witham pleaded not guilty to the 15 charges—which include bank extortion, attempted bank extortion, carjacking, and brandishing a firearm while committing a crime—during a 20-minute arraignment and initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon.

Brian Witham

Brian Witham (Photo courtesy WATE-TV in Knoxville)

A trial has been set for March 29.

Witham’s alleged co-conspirator, Michael Benanti, has an initial appearance and arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.

The two were indicted by a federal grand jury on December 15 for plots that involved kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob three banks and credit unions in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Elizabethton, Tennessee. Benanti, 43, is from Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Witham, 45, is from Waterville, Maine. [Read more…]

Two men indicted in robbery, kidnappings at Y-12 Credit Union, SmartBank

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Michael Benanti

Michael Benanti (Photo courtesy WATE-TV in Knoxville)

Brian Witham

Brian Witham (Photo courtesy WATE-TV in Knoxville)


Note: This story was last updated at 10:37 p.m.

Two men were indicted Tuesday for plots that involved kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob three banks and credit unions in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Elizabethton, Tennessee.

The two men are Michael Benanti and Brian Witham. One is from Pennsylvania, and the other is from Maine.

The three financial institutions they targeted were Y-12 Federal Credit Union on Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge, SmartBank on Advantage Place in Knoxville, and Northeast Community Credit Union on Jason Witten Way in Elizabethton.

The indictment of Benanti and Witham by a federal grand jury for the armed bank extortions was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. You can read the 15-count indictment, which also includes charges of carjacking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, here. [Read more…]

Booms heard Wednesday were explosives training for officers at UT Arboretum

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The booms heard in Oak Ridge on Wednesday were from explosives training for law enforcement officers at the University of Tennessee Arboretum on South Illinois Avenue, an official said.

Twenty-nine officers from across the country are training in a 10-week National Forensics Academy course offered by the UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center in Oak Ridge. That course includes crime scene investigation, and one aspect of that training involves investigating car bombs, suicide bombers, and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, said Don Green, executive director of the Law Enforcement Innovation Center. On Wednesday, an explosives ordinance team from the Knoxville Police Department used explosives to show officers what they would have to go through at that type of scene.

The explosives training session was on Wednesday only. [Read more…]

TBI Top 10 fugitive captured; missing child recovered

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Tyler Ward Enix

Tyler Ward Enix

A Knoxville man who was added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top 10 Most Wanted fugitive list Thursday morning was captured in Ohio, just hours after being added to the list, authorities said.

Tyler Ward Enix, 36, who is the father of the subject of an Amber Alert issued Wednesday, was captured Thursday morning in a rural area of Morrow County, Ohio, the TBI said. A citizen had heard the Amber Alert on the radio and realized he was behind the vehicle referenced in the alert. The citizen called 911 and deputies with the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office responded and initiated a traffic stop, the TBI said. Enix was taken into custody without incident. His 2-year-old daughter Brooklynne was recovered and is safe. [Read more…]

TBI issues Amber Alert for missing child; mother found dead, father charged with murder

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Brooklynne Enix

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is asking for help finding a missing two-year-old girl whose mother was found dead earlier today (Wednesday, October 28) in her Knoxville home.

The child, Brooklynne Enix, is described as three feet tall and about 38 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. The TBI has issued a statewide Amber Alert.

The TBI said Brooklynne may be in the company of her biological father, 36-year-old Tyler Ward Enix, who is 6’2″, 205 pounds and is bald with blue eyes. A warrant was issued Wednesday night charging Enix with first-degree murder, the TBI said. [Read more…]

Man arrested after shots fired in two neighborhoods, chase through several counties

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Debriael Hall

Debriael Hall

Note: This story was last updated at 5:30 p.m.

A 20-year-old Oak Ridge man was arrested after police received several reports of shots fired in two neighborhoods in Oak Ridge this weekend and after a high-speed chase that went through several counties and cities on Sunday night, ending in Newport, authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said it first received a report that a black male suspect was chasing a male black victim on foot, firing a pistol, at about 11 p.m. Saturday, September 19.

Then, at about 3 a.m. Sunday, the ORPD responded to South Fisk Avenue in Scarboro, where residents reported multiple shots were fired into their home, which was struck at least twice, according to a city press release. The residents said they heard at least a dozen gunshots.

Oak Ridge Police Department Chase Damage

Damage to an Oak Ridge Police Department car is pictured above after a high-speed chase that started in Oak Ridge on Sunday night, Sept. 20, wound through several counties and cities, and ended in Newport after spike strips were deployed. (Photo by Oak Ridge Police Department via Facebook)

 

In the first incident, the ORPD said, a white Ford Escape with dealer tags was seen in the area, and in the second incident, this same vehicle was seen fleeing the area at a high rate of speed.

Then, at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, ORPD responded to a report of shots fired on Wakefield Road. The complainant said shots were fired toward an apartment building by a male black suspect, and a second male black perpetrator returned fire, which struck the tailgate off a parked truck. Both suspects fled the area, reportedly in a white SUV matching the description of the suspect vehicle in the previous incidents.

The mother of a fourth victim reported her son had been pistol-whipped by a male black suspect earlier that day, but the victim refused to cooperate in identifying the suspect or describing what occurred, the City of Oak Ridge said in the press release. [Read more…]

Powell man arrested after SunTrust bank robbery, FBI says

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A Powell man was arrested after an armed bank robbery was reported at the SunTrust Bank at 6632 Clinton Highway in Knoxville on Monday afternoon, authorities said.

The robbery was reported at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

Michael James Ward, 43, of Powell, was arrested in Knox County without incident through the joint efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, composed of the FBI, Knoxville Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and the KPD Violent Crimes Unit.  KCSO patrol officers also assisted with the arrest, a press release said. [Read more…]

FBI: Even small tips could help catch extortion, kidnapping suspects

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FBI Press Conference Composite Sketches Extortion, Kidnapping

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Knoxville on Wednesday released composite sketches of two subjects and one person of interest in alleged kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July. Pictured above are FBI Knoxville Special Agent in Charge Edward Reinhold, center; Knox County Sheriff’s Office Major Michael MacLean, right; and Knoxville Police Department Deputy Chief Nate Allen. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—Two men entered two different homes in kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July, and a woman, possibly with an infant or a toddler, might have entered the first, officials said Wednesday.

A blue four-door car was spotted in the area of the second home about a week before the second incident, said Edward Reinhold, special agent in charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Knoxville.

It’s possible there could be a fourth person involved, and it’s not clear if the suspects are still in the area.

Reinhold said both men were wearing disguises. The woman was not, but she might have been wearing a wig and sunglasses. [Read more…]

FBI releases composite sketches in kidnappings, extortions at Y-12 FCU, SmartBank

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FBI Press Conference Composite Sketches Extortion, Kidnapping

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Knoxville on Wednesday released composite sketches of two subjects and one person of interest in alleged kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July. Pictured above are FBI Knoxville Special Agent in Charge Edward Reinhold, center; Knox County Sheriff’s Office Major Michael MacLean, right; and Knoxville Police Department Deputy Chief Nate Allen. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday released composite sketches on two subjects and one person of interest in alleged kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July.

See descriptions of the three below.

Here is the FBI press release:

[Read more…]