Sex offender makes history
in social-networking case

After he was charged with using social networking Web sites, an Asheville man convicted of a sex crime involving a child turned himself in to authorities on Jan. 20.

James William Holland Jr., 32, of Carribou Road was the first person charged in Buncombe County under the relatively new law banning sex offenders from using sites like MySpace or Facebook, records show.

Holland was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a 6-year-old child last May, according to the N.C. sex offender registry.
He had MySpace and Facebook social-networking pages, law enforcement officials said.

On the “about me” portion of his MySpace page, Holland stated that he treated a lot of people poorly during the course of his life and “was poison to everyone who dared to care about me.

“I just couldn’t see it for myself until I lose everything and everyone,” Holland wrote.

“You can’t be the person I was and not suffer life-altering consequences.”

Holland’s page also features poetry and song lyrics penned by him and several references to Christianity and finding Jesus.
His Facebook page was set to private.

As part of a larger bill to fight child pornographers and predators, the N.C. General Assembly in 2008 enacted the law banning sex offenders from using social-networking sites.

The crime is a Class 1 felony punishable by up to six months in prison, with more time possible, depending on other factors, including prior criminal record.

In response to a subpoena, MySpace officials last year provided a list of 90,000 registered sex offenders it had banned from its site to two state attorneys general, including N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Holland remained jailed late Jan. 20 under $30,000 bond.

Man pleads guilty in assault
on prostitute, gets jail term

A man who Asheville police had considered a “person of interest” in a slaying and dismemberment case pleaded guilty on Jan. 11 to charges of assaulting a prostitute.

Lewis Kyle Wilson was sentenced to 15 to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of assault inflicting serious bodily injury and various drug charges.

However, his jail time will be truncated by 13 months because of time he already has served since his arrest in November 2008.
A prostitute told police that Wilson held her captive in a camper on his property on Craven Street, beating her and stabbing her with a knife while forcing her to perform sex acts, arrest warrants stated.

Police had charged Wilson with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and kidnapping.

That case and other reports of abuse by prostitutes led police to search Wilson’s home, where they seized teeth and hair they thought might link him to the 2006 murder of Kelly Lane Smith. But the items’ DNA did not match Smith’s.

Prosecutors in the assault case reportedly dismissed the kidnapping charge as part of a plea agreement because the victim voluntarily got into Wilson’s vehicles. The assault charge also was reduced in the agreement, officials said.

The plea agreement avoided a trial that reportedly would have been hard on the victim.

Inmate alleges sexual abuse by his female prison chief

A former Craggy Correctional Center inmate is claiming in a federal lawsuit filed in Asheville that he was sexually assaulted by a prison supervisor who later falsely accused him of rape.

The complaint by convicted murderer Shane  Smith names Edith Pope, who pleaded guilty in Buncombe County Superior Court to sexual activity with a custodian, along with N.C. Department of Correction officials.

Smith alleges his constitutional rights were violated because prison officials had an obligation to provide safe confinement conditions and retaliated against him for disclosing the abuse.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Pope used her position as assistant superintendent at Craggy to force Smith to have sex with her dozens of times from June 2004 to May 2005, the complaint alleges.

“Edith Pope repeatedly threatened Smith that if he disclosed Edith Pope’s sexual assault to prison officials, they would transfer him to a higher security prison further from his home in Rutherford County,” the suit claimed.

Smith worked at the prison as Pope’s clerk, performing work that included maintaining prison computer systems, designing software applications, including one that managed employee evaluations, drafting prison correspondence and editing policy manuals, the suit stated.

He alleges that in response to the assaults, he made numerous requests for job assignments away from Pope.

The lawsuit states that after Pope’s husband found out about the sexual contact, the couple filed a report with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office claiming that Smith raped Pope. A prosecutor made the same allegations during Pope’s criminal sentencing hearing.

After she was asked to take a polygraph test, Pope admitted the sex was consensual.

The lawsuit claims that prison officials have unfairly retaliated against Smith by placing him in solitary confinement, denying him access to a computer and refusing to let him participate in work activities.

Pope, 53, pleaded guilty in August 2006 to seven counts of sexual activity by a custodian and was sentenced to 22-36 months in prison. She was releasd in June 2008 and remains on probation.

Smith, 40, was convicted in 1990 in Polk County on second-degree murder, arson and burglary and was sentenced to life in prison. He is eligible for parole in 2020.

UNCA residence hall fire
termed arson after probe

Arson investigators are trying to figure out who set a fire in the lounge at a UNC Asheville residence hall about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 24.
A small fire, which damaged the lounge area at Founders Residence Hall, was intentionally set, the Asheville-Buncombe County Arson Task Force determined.

About 235 students were safely evacuted from the building within minutes of the fire alarm, a UNCA press release stated.

Students returned to their rooms — three hours later — about 5:30 a.m. No one was injured.

Bill Haggard, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said UNCA officials are “very concerned that someone would jeopardize the safety of our students.”

UNCA police are increasing patrols, and housing staff have stepped up the frequency of building rounds, university officials said.
The Arson Task Force is continuing the investigation with assistance from UNCA Campus Police. Anyone with information about the incident is being asked to call UNCA police at 251-6710.

Candler man avoids death
penalty in veteran’s murder

A Candler man avoided the possibility of a death sentence by pleading guilty to the 2007 murder and robbery of a disabled veteran.

Mitchell Stephen McCall, 27, was sentenced in Buncombe County Superior Court to a mandatory life prison term without the possiblity of parole.

McCall had been scheduled to go on trial Jan. 12 in the slaying of Alexander Andy Chriss.

District Attorney Ron Moore was seeking the death penalty in a trial that could have lasted a month.

However, the defendent instead pleaded guilty on Jan. 14 to charges of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary.

McCall, of Justice Ridge Road, was charged with murder along with Brandlon Lee Gross, of Asheville, and Wallacee Harold Robinson, of Candler. Authorities said the three killed Chriss inside his Pacoda Street home on June 10, 2007.

A neighbor who discovered his body said Chriss had been badly beaten. An investigator said robbery appeared to be the motive.
Chriss, 65, a native of Tarpon Springs, Fla., served with the Army in Vietnam. He moved to Asheville in 2002.

Marijuana bust along I-26
rates as record cash seizure

Two men were arrested  on Feb. 1 hauling more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and $1.1 million in cash in a horse trailer.
The arrests on Interstate 26 in Buncombe County rank as Western North Carolina’s largest drug-related cash seizure, officials said.

Counting the money took about three hours, according to Buncombe Sheriff Van Duncan in announcing the arrests.

Deputies with Buncombe/Henderson joint Highway Interdiction Team stopped the Ford truck and trailer with Arkansas license plates about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 28 for a minor traffic violation.

Duncan declined to provide details about the violation or exactly where the drug and money were found, citing his desire not to jeopardize the case.

The money was in small and large denominations while the marijuana was packaged in more than a dozen bales.

Arrested were Andrew Curtis Vanover, 62, of Millsburg, Ky., and José Alfrado Flores, 33, of Mission, Texas. Each man was charged with trafficking marijuana and maintaining a vehicle for the purpose of a controlled substance.

They were being held in the Buncombe County Detention Center.

The seized money will be turned over to the U.S Marshals Service, but Duncan said Buncombe and Henderson counties will get back about $400,000 each to aid in drug interdiction and anti-crime efforts.

The marijuana will be burned at the landfill after any court case is setted.

2 Merrimon pharamacies
robbed; suspect sought

Asheville police were searching for the man who robbed two North Asheville pharmacies on Jan. 26.

The first robbery happened about 5:30 p.m. at Rite Aid, 846 Merrimon Ave., followed by a hold up at 7:10 p.m. at CVS Pharmacy, 612 Merrimon Ave.

The same man held up both pharmacies, police say. The suspect, who reportedly used a note, told employees at the pharmacies that he was armed, but did not display a weapon in either heist, police said.

The man demanded drugs and money in the robberies, according to reports. No one was injured in the heists.

The suspect is described as white, 35-45 years old, wearing a black hooded sweat shirt and blue jeans. He had a thick moustache and a full goatee. He also was wearing a white-brimmed ball cap with an unknown logo.

The pharamacy robberies followed by a few days the robbery of the Merrimon Avenue branch of Bank of America.

However, within minutes of the Jan. 21 bank heist, police arrested Gerald O’Neal Park, 38, of Twin Ridge Drive, Weaverville, on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny of a motor vehicle and misdemeanor larceny.

Anyone with information about the pharamacy robberies is asked to call the APD at 252-1110.