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Exclusive: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against CNS

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that was filed three years ago after Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC began managing and operating the Y-12 National Security Complex and made changes to health care benefits.

The changes in benefits led to protests, mostly by retirees, near Y-12 and the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office just before they took effect January 1, 2015.

Y-12 retirees Betty Hatmaker and Charlene Edwards, who had been among the protesters, filed the lawsuit that summer. The 31-page civil complaint was filed August 12, 2015, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Hatmaker and Edwards sought to make their lawsuit a class action complaint, meaning they could have represented other plaintiffs, possibly including several thousand former Y-12 workers who retired between 1975 and 2015.

A trial had been scheduled for June 25, but the case was dismissed by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan on May 30.

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Oak Ridge man sentenced to 14 years for child pornography

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James Edward Hiatt

James Edward Hiatt

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:38 p.m.

An Oak Ridge man was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison on Wednesday for distributing and possessing child pornography, authorities said.

James Edward Hiatt, 33, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

He had been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of distributing and possessing child pornography on February 17, 2016.

A sentencing memorandum filed September 11, 2017, said seized computer equipment found that Hiatt had about 2,900 digital images of child pornography and 1,400 digital videos. The child pornography included prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit activity, including “disturbing depictions of sadistic conduct, bondage, and bestiality involving very young children,” the sentencing memorandum said.

Hiatt consented to be interviewed during a search and admitted to knowingly downloading child pornography, the sentencing memorandum said. [Read more…]

Nuclear engineer receives two years in prison for violating Atomic Energy Act

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U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice

KNOXVILLE—On Thursday, Szuhsiung Ho, also known as Allen Ho, 66, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan to serve 24 months in prison and one year of supervised release. Upon his release, he will be supervised by U.S. Probation for one year. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.

Ho pleaded guilty in January 2017 to conspiracy to unlawfully engage or participate in the production or development of special nuclear material outside the United States, without the required authorization from the U.S. Department of Energy, in violation of the Atomic Energy Act, a press release said.

An April 2016 indictment charged Ho; China General Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC), the largest nuclear power company in China; and Energy Technology International (ETI), a Delaware corporation, with these offenses. At the time of his indictment, Ho was a nuclear engineer, employed as a consultant by CGNPC, and he was also the owner of ETI. CGNPC specialized in the development and manufacture of nuclear reactors and was controlled by China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the press release said. [Read more…]

Benanti gets four life sentences, plus 155 years, in bank extortion, robbery spree

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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. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Michael Benanti

Michael Benanti

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced Tuesday to four consecutive life sentences in federal prison, plus an additional 155 years, for his convictions involving a violent bank extortion and robbery spree in four states and several cities, including Oak Ridge and Knoxville, authorities said.

Michael Anthony Benanti, 45, of Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville on Tuesday.

Benanti had been convicted by a jury after a trial in U.S. District Court in February 2017. The jury found him guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit robbery and armed bank extortion, two counts of attempted armed bank extortion, one count of armed bank extortion, three counts of carjacking, three counts of kidnapping, three counts of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and 10 counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

“Often, severe federal penalties, such as mandatory minimum sentences, are the most effective tool to protect the American public from a violent criminal like Benanti,” U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr said in a press release. “The consecutive sentences received by Benanti for firearms violations ensure he will never again be able to victimize families in East Tennessee or elsewhere. The U.S. Attorney’s office is, and remains committed to, prosecuting these crimes and seeking the highest penalties possible to help keep the American people safe.” [Read more…]

Manhattan Project National Historical Park to welcome new U.S. citizens in Oak Ridge in June

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National Park Service Logo

The National Park Service and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service will partner to hold a naturalization ceremony for new United States citizens on Friday, June 16. The ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. June 16 at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge. The public is invited to witness the ceremony, a press release said.

Chief United States District Judge Thomas A. Varlan will preside. Amanda North and Natasha Loyd from Oak Ridge High School will sing the national anthem. The Oak Ridge Police Department will provide the presentation of colors.

“National parks aren’t just about scenic beauty,” said Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area Superintendent Niki Stephanie Nicholas. “Rather, they also represent sites of conscience, and commemoration. These sites serve as the standard-bearers of our shared history and what it means to be American. As you contemplate what it means to be an American citizen and these places that you now own, I would ask you to also play a role in protecting them and preserving them. Get out and explore.” [Read more…]

Clinton man sentenced to 12 years for child pornography

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A 20-year-old Clinton man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography, federal officials said.

Dakota Destry Weaver, 20, of Clinton, was sentenced to serve 144 months, or 12 years, by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan, a press release said.

A forensic examination of Weaver’s computer revealed that he had collected 1,106 still images and 78 videos of child pornography, according to the press release from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney William C. Killian of the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Weaver pleaded guilty in June 2015 to federal charges stemming from an undercover investigation into trading child pornography on the Internet, the press release said. [Read more…]

Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee

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Lake City to Rocky Top Vote

The Lake City Council on Thursday agreed to change the town’s name to Rocky Top as part of an effort to attract a multi-million dollar development that could include a water park, interactive theater with children’s museum, and coal miners music theater, among other things.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. June 28.

LAKE CITY—Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee.

For most people, Rocky Top has been, until now, the name of a bluegrass song that is wildly popular in East Tennessee and the unofficial anthem of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Hikers might know it as a sub-peak of Thunderhead Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. And shoppers might recognize it as the name of a bookstore, or gas station, or wine trail, or one of many other businesses registered in Tennessee.

But officials and business leaders here have worked for months to make their town to first to use it in a city name.

The idea is to use the name change to spur developments along Interstate 75 that could be worth up to $237 million. Proposed projects include an indoor and outdoor water park, interactive theater with a children’s museum, a coal miners music theater, and laser tag, among other things. Officials have said those developments—which have also included other options such as a hotel, restaurant, and candy company—won’t happen without the name change.

Residents hope the change and subsequent developments will create jobs, add sales tax revenues, and provide a vital economic boost to this depressed town of 1,800 people in northern Anderson County. [Read more…]

U.S. judge denies request to stop Lake City’s name change to Rocky Top

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Tim Isbel at Hearing on Lake City Name Change to Rocky Top

Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.

A federal judge on Wednesday denied for now a request to stop Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top.

The preliminary injunction had been requested by House of Bryant Publications LLC, the Gatlinburg publisher of “Rocky Top,” a well-known bluegrass song closely identified with the University of Tennessee and its Volunteers athletics program.

The Lake City Council could reconsider the name change as early as June. The council endorsed the name change in November, and it was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly this year in a bill that has already been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel has said Lake City could become Rocky Top on July 3 under the new state law.

Isbel is president of Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing Co. That company has proposed a development that could be worth up to $450 million over six years and include an indoor and outdoor water park, coal miners theater, children’s museum, train rides, restaurant, and a candy company on some 300 acres near two exits off Interstate 75. Officials have said it could bring 200 new jobs to Lake City and generate another $6 million in sales tax per year. But the project hinges on the name change. [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…]

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…]