U.S. Department of Justice Archives

FBI agents will continue working if part of government shuts down

Posted at 1:25 pm December 21, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

FBI Knoxville on Dowell Springs Road is pictured above in August 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue working if there a partial government shutdown because of a lapse in funding starting at midnight, but they will work without pay.

There is a disagreement involving Congress, President Donald Trump, Republicans, and Democrats over whether to include $5 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico in spending legislation for a number of federal departments. So far, the parties haven’t agreed on a bill that could pass the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and be signed by Trump.

If an agreement isn’t reached, funding will expire for nine federal departments and a number of agencies. The departments include the U.S. Department of Justice, which includes the FBI. The FBI field office in Knoxville covers Anderson, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union counties, among others. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man sentenced to 14 years for child pornography

Posted at 7:07 pm March 28, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 3 Comments

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…]

Anderson County residents among 44 indicted in meth distribution conspiracy

Posted at 8:28 pm March 26, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Candidate visit: Cruz vows to repeal ‘Obamacare,’ calls for abolishing IRS

Posted at 3:15 am December 27, 2015
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly called “Obamacare,” and he also called for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service during a stop at Farragut High School on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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

FARRAGUT—Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as “Obamacare,” and he also called for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service during a stop at Farragut High School on Tuesday.

Cruz spoke for about 30 minutes in the Farragut High gym before a standing-room-only crowd of roughly 2,000 people, who helped him celebrate his 45th birthday with a birthday song and cake. The East Tennessee rally was held a little more than two months before the March 1 “SEC primary.”

A first-term Texas senator, Cruz said he plans to rescind every unconstitutional executive order, ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Planned Parenthood, end the persecution of religious liberties, and “rip to shreds” the Iranian nuclear deal, which he called “catastrophic.”

Cruz also said the U.S. Department of Education should be abolished, and welfare benefits should end for people who are in the country illegally. He pledged to protect the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, called for killing the Environmental Protection Agency, and jokingly compared regulators to locusts, with a difference being that pesticides can be used to control locusts. [Read more…]

Clinton man sentenced to 12 years for child pornography

Posted at 7:53 pm November 3, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

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…]

Clinton receives $112,000 hiring grant for community policing

Posted at 2:54 pm September 27, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Clinton has received a hiring grant valued at about $112,000 for community policing.

It was one of three awards announced Friday in the Eastern District of Tennessee by U.S. Attorney William C. Killian in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS.

[Read more…]

Feds divvy up drug money

Posted at 4:24 pm August 30, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

Ten Tennessee state and local law enforcement agencies are among 19 dividing up $4 million seized during an investigation into a Mexican drug trafficking ring.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, information gained through wiretaps helped them identify and stop a semi driven by Armando Guzman Villegas and Javier Cruz-Ramirez as it headed along I-40 through East Tennessee. Searching the tractor-trailer, they found several pallets of shrink-wrapped bottled water. One of the shrink wrapped pallets, though, held more than $4 million in cash in about 200 duct-taped bundles. [Read more…]

Anderson Sheriff, other communities observed National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

Posted at 12:50 pm May 12, 2013
By Anderson County Sheriff Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and other communities throughout the nation, honored 2013 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week from April 21-April 27. This year’s theme was “New Challenges, New Solutions,” and it celebrated the spirit that will advance crime victims’ rights.

Thirty years ago, crime victims had no rights, access to crime victim compensation, or services to help rebuild their lives. They were often excluded from courtrooms, treated as an afterthought by the criminal justice system, and denied an opportunity to speak at sentencing.

Today, all states have enacted crime victims’ rights laws and established crime victim compensation funds. More than 10,000 victim service agencies help victims throughout the nation. Every year, states and localities receive millions of federal dollars to support these services. [Read more…]