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Tuesday, 07 November 2006 16:02 |
Federal officers join search
for four illegal immigrants
Five local law enforcement officers were joined by at least three agents from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency on Thursday in a search for four people who are accused of violating immigration law.
Among those sought were a cab driver who was arrested at his home on Craven Street; a mother who runs a Woodfin restaurant and was ordered to report to Charlotte for an immigration hearing; and a Henderson County apartment building owner, who has not yet been apprehended.
A fourth suspect has returned to his home in the Netherlands, according to police.
Those suspects who have been caught will face deportation hearings, officials noted.
It is not unusual for federal agents to search for multiple violators
during a trip to the region, a spokesman for the Buncombe County
Sheriffės Department said. The agents, who must drive from Charlotte,
do not generally search for just one person, he added.
Both Asheville and Woodfin police departments assisted in the search.
Activist receives sentence
for distributing child porn
An activist and regular community guest columnist for the Asheville
Citizen-Times was sentenced to between 10 and 12 months in prison for
possessing and sharing child pornography, District Attorney Ron Moore
announced last Thursday.
Andrew Douglas Reed, 53, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of sexual
exploitation of a minor related to his use of file-sharing networks on
the Internet to collect and distribute the graphic materials, including
169 images and three movies from Jan 13, 2004 to May 9.
The files included depictions of children as young as six years old
engaging in sexual acts with adults or other children, according to the
arrest warrant obtained by agents with the State Bureau of
Investigations.
The SBI raided Reedės Dogwood Road house and arrested him June 10, 2005 during a statewide operation.
In addition to his activities as a guest columnist for the AC-T, Reed
was involved in several community efforts, such as the League of Women
Voters and the Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville-Buncombe
County, from which he resigned after his arrest.
In 2005, the association presented him with its Community Humanitarian Award.
Two Fairview men charged
with break-ins at churches
FAIRVIEW ĒÓ Buncombe County Sheriffės deputies arrested two Fairview men
last Thursday on charges of breaking into four Baptist churches in the
eastern part of the county.
According to arrest warrants, Anthony Charles Wallace, 30, and Daniel
Justin Greer, 19, are charged with stealing more than $3,200 worth of
church property from three Fairview churches on Oct. 24. The pair also
are charged with breaking into Calvary Free Will Baptist Church on U.S.
70 in Swannanoa on Oct. 30, though no property was stolen there.
Stolen from Calvary Baptist Church on Jeremiah Boulevard were three guitars, a gas card, checks, cash and a safe.
Another guitar and cord were stolen from Chestnut Hill Baptist Church
on Old Fort Road, while a window was damaged and $500 stolen from Brush
Creek Baptist Church on Upper Brush Creek Road.
The pair are charged with four counts each of breaking and entering and three counts of theft, officials said.
Greer, who lives on Sharon Road, is facing an additional charge of damaging property.
Wallace, who lives at McGee Circle, is being held in lieu of a $4,000 bond, while Greer is being held in lieu of a $5,000 bond.
Teenager attacked on bus,
beaten by group with gun
A 17-year-old male was beaten on a public bus by a group of four or five people about 8 p.m. Oct. 30.
The teenager, a
resident of Klondyke Avenue, was riding the Route 41 city bus traveling
on Deaverview Road when a fight broke out between him and a group of
passengers. The teenager was beaten with a handgun.
Asheville Police Capt. Tim Splain said that the victim and his attackers apparently knew each other.
At one point, a
window was broken and the fight moved off the bus, authorities noted.
Before the bus drove away, however, the victim got back on and four or
five shots were fired at the bus, though none of the shots hit the bus,
police said.
The bus driver then drove to a lighted spot after calling for help and was met by sheriffės deputies and police.
Transit Director Bruse Black, the cityės top transportation official,
said that buses are still safe to ride and that the incident was unique
in his six years working for the department.
Splain concurred with this evaluation, saying that with increased volume in riders comes more calls for law enforcement.
The city is currently trying to promote its transit system by offering
free rides until Saturday. At that time, fares will go up to $1, a move
that transit officials say will eliminate many of the problems that
come with more riders.
The victim said he did not know the reason for the attack and police
are asking anyone who was on the bus to come forward with information
about the incident by calling 259-5854. The suspects are black males in
their late teens to early 30s, police noted.
Oakley man pleads guilty
to murdering girlfriend
Kenneth Michael Camby, 49, of Oakley pleaded guilty last Wednesday to
second-degree murder in the shooting death of his longtime girlfriend.
Camby received a sentence of 17 years in prison for the killing of
Maxine Joanne Yosten, 51, at her home at 39 Loomis Drive in Oakley,
according to District Attorney Ron Moore.
Yosten was found shot in the abdomen with a .38-caliber revolver.
Though the Buncombe County Sheriffės Department had initially charged
Camby with first-degree murder, Moore lessened the charge after
determining that the pair had been drinking together earlier that
evening, making it uncertain whether he would be able to prove the
crime was premeditated.
After being shot, Yosten reportedly called 911 and identified Camby as the perpetrator. She died on the way to the hospital.
Meanwhile, deputies found Camby hiding in a nearby shed.
He had previously been ordered to attend a domestic violence program
following a 1995 assault on Yosten. He had also been charged with
assaulting a female in 1999, though the case never went to court.
AHS received warning call
about student with weapon
School officials announced Oct. 31 that they had received a warning
about a student who brought a gun to school, but decided to wait three
days to act on the information for fear that the tip might not be true.
The student, Joseph Eugene Patton, 17, was arrested Oct. 30 after
administrators said they discovered a loaded .380-caliber pistol in his
book bag at school.
Patton, charged with felony possession of a gun on school property, was
held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond.
A concerned parent reportedly had sent an e-mail to a vice principal
Oct. 26 saying that her son had been told that a friend saw Patton with
the gun on a school bus.
On Oct. 27, school administrators showed yearbook photos to students
who identified Patton as the student who had the weapon. According to
reports, Patton was not in attendance at school that day.
Then, on Oct. 30, student resource officers attempted unsucessfully to
find Patton as students were entering the school, Principal Judd Porter
noted. About 8:45 a.m., school officials escorted Patton out of his
first-period class to Porterės office, where they searched his
belongings and found the gun.
School officials said they waited to act on the tip because it was fourth-hand information and such allegations often are false.
Though school officials have much more leeway than police when
questioning students, Porter said he chose not to contact Patton or his
mother over the weekend out of fear of fallout if the information
proved untrue.
Sheriffės deputies cleared
of responsibility for deaths
Two Buncombe County Sheriffės deputies have been cleared of wrongdoing in separate fatal shootings that took place July 13.
District Attorney Ron Moore announced last week that after reviewing a
report by the State Bureau of Investigation, he decided not to pursue
charges against deputies Tim Bradley and Caton McBride.
Moore noted that in North Carolina, officers are allowed to use deadly
force when they feel their lives or the lives of others are threatened.
In both incidents, he added, such criteria were met.
Sheriff Bobby Medford said that he expected both deputies to be cleared
because they had responded appropriately to life-threatening incidents.
In the first case, Bradley shot and killed 17-year-old Terry Jackson
Evans, who was wielding a .12-gauge shotgun. Evansė mother, Tammy
Revis, had called the Sheriffės Department after her son threatened her
life, Moore said.
However, Revis claims that she had control of the weapon when Bradley
shot him and has contested the official version of the incident.
According to the report, Evans was not at his home on Poor Manės Hollow
in Leicester when Bradley and a teenage Explorer deputy arrived. After
interviewing Revis, the two began to leave, but stopped when they heard
a shotgun blast go off near their vehicle. Evans was allegedly standing
nearby with a shotgun and a case of beer.
At that point, Revis and Evans struggled over the gun and Bradley
threatened to shoot Evans if he did not relinquish control of it, Moore
said.
Despite Revisė shouts that she had control of the weapon, Moore said
there was no indication whether this was true and Bradley proceeded to
tell the deputy, "Itėll take more than you to get me."
Furthermore, Moore said, the Explorer heard Evans threaten his motherės life.
The deputy then reportedly fired one shot at Evans, which pierced his
side, and then stepped on the shotgun in an attempt to keep control of
it. At that point, the shotgun discharged into Evans.
Medford noted that Bradley has more than 12 yearsė experience in law enforcement.
The second shooting occurred about 10 that night, when deputies
responded to a call about a man with psychological issues who was
wielding a gun and threatening people in a house off Dula Springs Road
near Weaverville.
When the deputies arrived, they were told by a man sleeping on the couch that Keith Hensley, 44, was downtown in the basement.
McBride, a member of the departmentės emergency response team,
reportedly entered the basement carrying an M-4 assault rifle, when he
encountered Hensley, who was partially hidden behind a curtain.
Hensley then grabbed a pistol, prompting McBride to order him to lie
down, Moore said. When Hensley did not do so, McBride fired seven shots
at him, six of which hit their mark.
According to the SBI report, McBride fired multiple times because Hensley did not show any response when first shot.
Search continues for teens
last seen at home Oct. 30
The Asheville Police Department is asking for help from anyone with
information about the whereabouts of two teenagers, Nick Rodrigues, 17,
and Sarah Lapp, 16.
They were last seen by their families Oct. 30 and police say there is
reason to believe the two are in danger. The pair were last seen
driving Rodriguezė yellow and black 1994 Jeep with North Carolina tag
STX-4883.
Those with information are asked to call Sgt. Scott Lunsford or Det. Paula Barnes at 259-5910.
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