plea agreement Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Man received 3-year sentence for assault on officer

Posted at 10:41 pm January 13, 2023
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A man who had been accused of fighting with Oak Ridge police officers and significantly injuring one of them was sentenced to three years in prison when he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and reckless endangerment against one of the officers.

That officer had been taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville with a significant arm injury, and two other officers had been taken to Methodist Medical Center to have their injuries evaluated, the City of Oak Ridge said at the time. One had been hit with a taser taken by the defendant, according to affidavits filed at the time.

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Man sentenced to one year, 9 months for fatal hit-and-runÂ

Posted at 11:23 am December 13, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

*Dannon Cole pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death or injury in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022.*

Note: This story was updated at 1 p.m. Dec. 13.

CLINTONâ€”A 51-year-old man was sentenced to one year and nine months when pleading guilty Monday to a fatal hit-and-run crash between a pickup truck and motorized bicycle in Clinton about one year ago.

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Man receives two-year sentence after fatal hit-and-run

Posted at 8:44 pm November 18, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Police Department investigated a deadly hit-and-run crash involving a pedestrian between Brussels Road and Bogola Road on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, 2020. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A 31-year-old man received a two-year sentence and was placed on supervised probation when he pleaded guilty Friday to charges filed after a fatal hit-and-run crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike more than two years ago.

The defendant received credit for time served in jail from August 11, 2020, to June 29, 2021.

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Statutory rape, misconduct charges dismissed against former officer after probation

Posted at 5:42 pm July 18, 2021
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Charges against Cassen Jackson-Garrison, right, a former Oak Ridge Police Department police officer, were dismissed this year after two years of supervised probation. Jackson-Garrison had agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct in 2017. His attorney, Greg Isaacs, left, said Jackson-Garrison had accepted responsibility for the allegations, and he compared Jackson-Garrison’s childhood story to the one portrayed in the movie “The Blind Side.” The probation was a judicial diversion, allowing the felony charges to be dismissed if Jackson-Garrison complied with the terms and conditions. Jackson-Garrison and Isaacs are pictured above during a plea agreement hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 12, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a two-year probation, charges were dismissed this year against a former Oak Ridge Police Department officer who had agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct in 2017.

His attorney successfully asked for judicial diversion for Cassen Jackson-Garrison, 36, more than three years ago, although the state opposed it. The judicial diversion gave Jackson-Garrison, a former star football player, the opportunity to have the felony charges dismissed and expunged, or removed from his record, at the end of his probationary period. But he had to comply with the terms and conditions. The two-year supervised probation ended in December 2019.

Charges against Cassen Jackson-Garrison, standing at right, a former Oak Ridge Police Department police officer, were dismissed this year after two years of supervised probation. Jackson-Garrison had agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct in 2017. His attorney, Greg Isaacs, standing next to Jackson-Garrison, said Jackson-Garrison had accepted responsibility for the allegations, and he compared his client’s childhood story to the one portrayed in the movie “The Blind Side.” The probation was a judicial diversion, allowing the felony charges to be dismissed if Jackson-Garrison complied with the terms and conditions. Jackson-Garrison and Isaacs are pictured above during a plea agreement hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 12, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After a two-year probation, charges were dismissed this year against a former Oak Ridge Police Department officer who had agreed to plead guilty to statutory rape and official misconduct in 2017.

The charges were dismissed in January 2021, after Jackson-Garrison completed the terms of his diversion sentence.

The plea agreement has been previously reported, but the dismissal of the charges has not been. The charges appear to have now been expunged from Jackson-Garrison’s record, at least the portion that is publicly available.

Jackson-Garrison surrendered his P.O.S.T. (Peace Officer Standards Training) certification for police officers as part of his plea agreement, but he will not be placed on the sex offender registry.

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For members: Former ER doc sentenced to 18 months for drug conspiracy, false statement convictions

Posted at 9:32 am May 28, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Michael LaPaglia (File photo)

KNOXVILLEâ€”A former emergency room doctor and ambulance medical director in Oak Ridge and Anderson County was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday more than two years after he pleaded guilty in federal court to drug conspiracy and false statement charges.

U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer granted a request from Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne-Marie Svolto to lengthen the sentence for Michael A. LaPaglia to 18 months. The guideline range had been six to 12 months. Svolto said even 18 months might be considered too lenient. When he is released from prison, LaPaglia will be on supervised released for three years. He also has to pay restitution of about $5,000.

LaPaglia, who has been a doctor for almost 20 years, pleaded guilty to the two federal charges in an information in November 2018, meaning before he had been indicted by a grand jury.

His plea agreement said he had obtained pre-signed prescriptions from another doctor, and the other doctor also give LaPaglia blank prescriptions that LaPaglia filled out, forging the other doctor’s signature. Drug patients would pay LaPaglia and the other doctor $300 cash per month in exchange for the controlled-substance prescriptions. The prescriptions included diazepam; buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone; clonazepam, also known as Klonopin; and pregabalin, also known as Lyrica. The doctors distributed and dispensed the Schedule III, IV, and V drugs between March and September 2018, according to the plea agreement.

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Note: This story was last updated at 12:30 p.m.

Michael LaPaglia (File photo)

LaPaglia, who has been a doctor for almost 20 years, pleaded guilty to the two federal charges in an information in November 2018, meaning before he had been indicted by a grand jury.

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An Anderson County man was sentenced to eight years in prison when he pleaded guilty Friday, June 28, 2019, to vehicular homicide by intoxication after a crash in Oak Ridge that killed his three-year-old son on January 13, 2017. The defendant, Jason Robert Braden II, is pictured above at center in Anderson County Criminal Court on Friday, March 29, 2019. At left is defense attorney David Stuart, who represented Braden. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

An Anderson County man was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday when he pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide by intoxication after a crash in Oak Ridge that killed his three-year-old son in January 2017.

The man told police that he had injected roxycodone about six to eight hours before the crash and was driving to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge with a man who had overdosed at the time of the two-vehicle collision at Emory Valley Road and Lafayette Drive, according to court documents.

An Anderson County man was sentenced to eight years in prison when he pleaded guilty Friday, June 28, 2019, to vehicular homicide by intoxication after a crash in Oak Ridge that killed his three-year-old son on January 13, 2017. The defendant, Jason Robert Braden II, is pictured above at center in Anderson County Criminal Court on Friday, March 29, 2019. At left is defense attorney David Stuart, who represented Braden. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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