Oak Ridge Today

Fentanyl, meth allegedly found during narcotics search

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Fentanyl, methamphetamine, other suspected drugs, and a gun were found during a narcotics search of an Oak Ridge home this month, according to law enforcement officers.

The Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County searched the home on Jasper Lane on Monday, January 9.

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More meth than marijuana submitted to TBI labs in 2019

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More methamphetamine than marijuana was submitted to Tennessee Bureau Investigation crime laboratories in 2019, a sign of a troubling drug trend, the TBI said Monday.

It’s the first time that’s happened since TBI crime laboratories began keeping detailed statistics, a press release said.

“Drug addiction continues to be a major issue in Tennessee, and I believe this sharp increase in methamphetamine has a connection to our state’s ongoing opioid epidemic,” said TBI Director David Rausch. “Drug abusers often flow from depressants to stimulants and back again. As more people struggle with opioid addiction many of them will—with time—seek out stimulants like methamphetamine. Unfortunately, those who run drug operations, often based outside the United States, know there’s an increased demand here. Alongside our local, state, and federal partners, we’ll keep doing what we can to dismantle these operations, but we’d also urge anyone struggling with drug problems to get help before addiction costs you your life.”

[Read more…]

Warrants: Police find about three ounces of suspected meth

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Otis Kevin Aslinger
Otis Kevin Aslinger

Two men have been charged with a Class A felony drug crime after police allegedly found about three ounces of suspected methamphetamine during a search of a vehicle in Oak Ridge in August, according to court records.

Warrants filed in the case said the vehicle, a pickup truck, was searched after agents of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and officers of the Oak Ridge Police Department conducted surveillance along South Illinois Avenue at about 6 p.m. Monday, August 5.

“A black Chevrolet step-side pickup truck was observed pulling into the parking lot of Big Lots (at) 250 South Illinois Avenue,” the warrants said. “The female driver of the vehicle parked while a male passenger exited and got into the passenger side of a newer model Ford F-150 pickup.”

Agents identified both the driver of the F-150 and the passenger, according to the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge by CTF Agent S. Perry Lewis.

[Read more…]

Two charged with conspiracy after 45 grams of meth allegedly found in motel room

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William Michael Renfro
William Michael Renfro

An Oak Ridge man and woman are facing drug and conspiracy charges after 45.1 grams of methamphetamine were allegedly found in a motel room on South Illinois Avenue in May, according to court records.

Charged in the case are William Michael Renfro, 18, and Carlie Alise Wisman, 22.

Carlie Alise Wisman
Carlie Alise Wisman

A black backpack with 45.1 grams of methamphetamine was found in a room at Days Inn on May 7, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court by Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Adam Fairbanks.

Video from a surveillance camera showed Renfro entering the motel room with the black backpack, and another video showed him leaving the room without the backpack, Fairbanks wrote in the affidavits. Affidavits are narrative descriptions of alleged crimes that are attached to arrest warrants.

[Read more…]

CTF: 53 grams of suspected meth found in hotel room search

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Bobby M. Baucum

Bobby M. Baucum

 

About 53 grams of suspected crystal methamphetamine were found during a hotel room search in Clinton in October, authorities said.

Bobby M. Baucum, 47, of Knoxville, was arrested after the search, which was led by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force of Anderson County, according to Anderson County court and jail records. Baucum was charged with possession of schedule II drugs (methamphetamine) for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Baucum had been using a hotel room at the Red Roof Inn and Suites on Buffalo Road in Clinton, according to affidavits filed by Jonathan Wilson of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. Officers, who had a search warrant, searched the room on October 3, the affidavits said.

The search of the hotel room found the roughly 53 grams of suspected meth and a digital scale and plastic bags, Wilson said in the affidavits. [Read more…]

Anderson County residents among 44 indicted in meth distribution conspiracy

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A group of Anderson County residents was part of an alleged methamphetamine distribution ring that involved 44 people and a conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine in East Tennessee and elsewhere, federal officials said Monday.

A 30-count indictment was returned against the 44 people by a federal grand jury in Greeneville in East Tennessee on January 9. Among those indicted were nine residents of Clinton, Oliver Springs, Powell, and Rocky Top, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District of Tennessee on Monday. There were also four Knoxville residents indicted and a dozen in Bristol and Kingsport in upper East Tennessee, among other defendants in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Clinton Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Oliver Springs Police Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County were among the agencies that helped with the investigation, the press release said.

Here are the people that were indicted in the alleged methamphetamine distribution conspiracy: [Read more…]

Police: Remains of suspected meth lab found during search of home

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Arthur Wilson Jr.

Arthur Wilson Jr.

Julia Wilson

Julia Wilson

The remains of a suspected methamphetamine laboratory were found during a search of a home on West Wadsworth Circle on Wednesday, authorities said.

Items found in a trash can in the basement of the home included coffee filters, a Coleman brand camp fuel can, lithium batteries that had been cut open, and lithium strips that appeared to have been chemically reacted, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas said in arrest warrants. He said other items included a sports drink bottle with a two-part liquid, a soda bottle with a white powdery substance and holes that appeared to have been burned through the bottle from a chemical reaction inside, and two empty boxes of Claritin-D medicine that originally each contained 2.4 grams of pseudoephedrine.

The two defendants, Arthur Wilson Jr., 50, and Julia Wilson, 49, are on probation for convictions for manufacturing methamphetamine in Morgan County, the warrants said. The two are under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Correction, and one of the conditions of probation is that the home can be searched, Thomas said. [Read more…]

One Anderson man gets life, second 30 years in meth conspiracy

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Jeffery Scott Braden

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…]

Son convicted of drug charges inside courtroom, father arrested outside

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William Charles Braden

William Charles Braden

Betty Jo Braden

Betty Jo Braden

After his son was convicted inside a federal courthouse in Knoxville on drug charges last week, a Lake City man was arrested outside, charged with selling a controlled substance, authorities said.

The mother was also arrested on drug charges, but she was at home on Vowell Mountain Lane near Lake City when she was picked up, authorities said. [Read more…]

Lake City man convicted of conspiracy to make 50+ grams of meth

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Jeffery Scott Braden

Jeffery Scott Braden

He was the only one of 42 people indicted earlier this year to go to trial in an unprecedented meth-making conspiracy, and now the Lake City man has been found guilty, authorities said Friday.

After a three-day federal trial, a jury convicted Jeffrey Scott Braden of conspiracy to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; the possession of equipment, chemicals, products, and materials that can be used to make it; and being a felon in possession of ammunition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Braden was tried in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Clinton Police Department touts anti-meth successes

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Information from WYSH Radio

For nearly two years, Clinton Police Department officers and investigators, with the cooperation of local drug stores, have taken a proactive stance in the battle against drug activity and “would be” meth manufacturers in and around our community, and now they are sharing some of their successes with the community.

According to a release from the CPD, the continuing operation has resulted in hundreds of charges as well as numerous vehicle seizures, as in Tennessee it is against the law to use your car to facilitate the transaction of narcotics. Police have confiscated nearly 150 boxes of medicine that might have, otherwise, been used to make meth that would sell on the streets for nearly $40,000. [Read more…]

OS police allegedly find Xanax, meth, other pills during traffic stop

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The driver was sweating profusely, acting nervous, and had white powder packed into his left nostril, the Oliver Springs police officer said.

The passenger removed several handfuls of pills from her crotch and a ball of tin foil that contained an orange-colored powder that tested positive for methamphetamine, Oliver Springs Police Department Sgt. Charles Graham said. [Read more…]