Biltmore Forest jeweler
charged with embezzlement

Police arrested the owner of a Biltmore Village jewelry shop last Thursday and charged him with taking customers’ jewelry for repairs and consignment and then going out of business.

Police serving a search warrant seized 23 pieces of jewelry, including rings, necklaces, earrings and other items, from the Fairview home of William Deaver Gaylean, who owned Gaylean W. Jeweler at All Souls Crescent. Gaylean, 79, closed his shop last year.

He was charged with embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretenses, according to warrants. He was released under a written promise to appear in court.

Police say that a conservative estimate on the value of the items belonging to customers that Gaylean still had in his possession exceeds $10,000.

So far, five former customers have filed complaints with the Asheville Police Department about items not being returned.

Man, 2 teenagers arrested
on unrelated drug charges

An Asheville man was arrested on various drug charges last Sunday.

Gary Lee Austin, 51, of Cedar Hill Road, was charged with possession with intent to manufacture and sell marijuana and using his house to sell marijuana. He also was charged with possesion of Xanax and drug parapharnalia, according to warrants.

He was being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on $6,000 bond.

In unrelated action, two teenagers also were charged with drug offenses Sunday.

Ryan Lynn Mattison, 17, of Deaverview Road, and Michael Tyron Moore, 19, of Johnston Boulevard were charged with possession with intent to sell cocaine and selling 0.1 gram of cocaine.

They were being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on a bond of $4,000 each.

2 men arrested on charges
of breaking into restaurant

Police arrested two men early last Saturday, who are accused of breaking into the Silver Dollar Café on Clingman Avenue.

Timothy Lucas Cagle, 37, of Robinson Road in Weaverville, and Brian Alexander Webster, 19, of Eastover Drive in Asheville each were charged with breaking and entering, larceny, possession of burglary tools and resisting public officers.

Police say the men broke into the diner and attempted to steal property. They were in possession of bolt cutters and sledge hammers at the time of their arrest, according to warrants.

The men’s bonds were set at $5,500.

Ex-Fletcher police officer
sues over alleged abuses

FLETCHER — A former Fletcher police officer has filed a federal lawsuit against  town officials, saying he was forced to work unpaid hours and experienced retaliation when he complained about it.

Adam White filed the suit last week under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit targets Town Manager Mark Biberdorf, Police Chief Langdon Raymond and former police Sgt. Steve Morgan.
White, 25, said he was fired unjustly and wants to get his name cleared.

The suit was the most recent development in a string of problems involving the Fletcher Police Department that began in April 2006, when White failed to give a State Highway Patrol trooper a ticket for speeding 99 mph in a 45-mph zone.

District Attorney Jeff Hunt subsequently instructed Raymond to have White write the ticket.
White claims that town officials forced him to submit a false report about the incident or risk criminal prosecution.

The suit also claims that two weeks after the trooper was charged, Raymond forced White to put his hands on a wall and proceeded to search his pockets. Raymond allegedly confiscated a tape recorder that White was using to gather evidence of a hostile work environment. He subsequently was fired.

White and Officer Timothy Foxx later filed misdemeanor assault charges against the police chief, which were dropped after an inquiry by the State Bureau of Investigation.

White’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Under the FLSA, suits can result in judgements as high as millions of dollars.

City police charge 2 more
in pet-supply store robbery

Asheville police charged two more suspects in an armed robbery at a Tunnel Road pet store in January.

Tonya Lynn Clark, 22, of Cedar Knoll Place, and Megan Amberina Clark, 18, of Evelake Drive, were each charged with aiding and abetting armed robbery.

Police say the women assisted Roderick Demon Durant to steal cash, cell phones and car keys druing the Jan. 2 robbery at Pet Supermarket. The women were being held in lieu of $10,000 bond each.

Durant, 17, Terrell Keith Young, 19, and an unnamed juvenile previously had been charged in the robbery, during which they allegedly brandished a shotgun and robbed or attempted to rob seven people in the store.

Inmate’s death in custody
was natural, deputies say

An inmate who was found dead in his cell at the Buncombe County Detention Center  died of natural causes, according to sheriff’s deputies.

Tommy McMahan, 53, was found dead about 6 a.m. March 1, about 90 minutes after jailers had checked in on him and found him to be fine, officials said.

He had been arrested by Asheville police on tresspassing charges at Mission Hospitals the mroning of Feb. 29 after he refused to leave the facility and obstructed the entrance to the emergency bay, police spokeswoman Melissa Williams said.

Officials said they could not release the exact cause of death because of patient-confidentiality laws.

McMahan had a long criminal history in Buncombe County for trespassing, drunk and disorderly conduct and other offenses.

He reportedly had been homeless off and on for at least five years.

Episcopal priest pleds guilty
in Waynesville sex case

WAYNESVILLE — An Episcopal priest who was caught in an undercover sex sting in Waynesville last summer pleaded guilty last Thursday to soliciting sex from an undercover police officer.

Michael Royce Penland, 46, pleaded guilty to soliciting crimes against nature and was ordered to pay court costs and stay out of Haywood County recreational facilities.

Penland was the last of seven men to plead guilty in the three-month undercover operation that focused on people soliciting for sex around park restrooms on Vance Street and East Marshall Street.

Waynesville man sentenced
for sex crimes against girls

WAYNESVILLE — A 34-year-old man will serve 50-61 years in prison for sex crimes involving children.

Larry Dean Mintz was sentenced March 10 after being convicted in January of two counts of first-degree sexual offense with a child and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.
Mintz molested two girls in 2002, who were 8 and 10 years old at the time. The victims, who were not related to Mintz, did not report the crimes until January 2005.

Mintz was arrested in May 2005, but escaped from jail and fled the jurisdiction. He later was apprehended.

City police release sketch
of suspect in rape case

Asheville police have released a composite sketch of a man sought in the rape of a 63-year-old woman in her home.

Investigators also are following up with DNA evidence collected after the Feb. 24 rape and continue to canvass the area around Oakview Villas apartments in east Asheville.

The victim told police she forgot to lock her sliding glass back door the night of the attack.

A man entered through the sliding door, took off his clothes and went upstairs to the woman’s bedroom where he raped her.

The assailant is described as Hispanic, between 5-feet, 4-inches and 5-feet, 7-inches tall, weighing between 145 and 155 pounds, with short black hair and no facial hair. He wore a tan or gray overcoat, according to police.

Anyone with information about the attack can call police at 259-5964 (tip line), 259-5910 (Criminal Investigations Division), or 255-5050 (Asheville-Buncombe CrimeStoppers.)

Investigators ask for help
finding missing Arden girl

ARDEN — Investigators are seeking information about an Arden teen whom they suspect ran away last month.

Charity buckner, 17, has been missing since she left her home about 7 p.m. Feb. 14. She told her parents she was going back to work at the Ingles on Long Shoals Road, but never reported for work.

Investigators believe she ran away after taking clothes and personal items from home.

Buckner is white, 5 feet, 3 inches tall, about 135 pounds with blond hair and hazel eyes. She has a tattoo on her lower back of a butterfly with the words “Daddy’s Girl.”

Anyone with information about her whereabouts can contact the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at 250-4436.

Shoplifting suspect caught
during routine traffic stop

A traffic stop on Long Shoals Road led to the arrest of a man who was wanted on multiple outstanding misdemeanor charges.

Deputies in at least six squad cars responded early last Wednesday evening to 301 Long Shoals Road in front of an Ingle’s grocery store.

Deputies arrested Duane Ellis Anderson, 51, of Edney Lane outstanding warrants for shoplifting and resisting public officer charges.

2 graffiti taggers caught
at UNCA Botanical Gardens

UNC Asheville campus police charged two teenagers with vandalism last Thursday after they allegedly spray-painted property at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville. Police say a written confession by one of the teens identifies them as “Tride” and “Feiz,” names that have been tagged on structures all over Asheville.

Drew Samuel Alderman, 18, of 114 HIllside Street, and Austin Taylor Haltiwanger, 19, of Lake Lure, were each issued state citations for vandalism and will also be charged by the Asheville police department, according to UNCA police.

Campus police received a phone call about 3 p.m. from an employee of the gardens telling them that several males were spray painting grafitti in the culvert below Founders Drive.
When officers arrived, they found cans of spray paint in the culvert and detained Alderman, who is not a UNCA student.

Two other suspects ran away on foot heading south on Broadway Street.

After officers transported Alderman to the campus police office, a witness called who had seen Haltiwanger fleeing the scene.

The witness was following Haltiwanger in his car. Police caught up with them on Dortch Avenue and transported Haltiwanger back to the campus police office, where both suspects gave voluntary statements, according to the police report.

In other action, UNCA campus police reported the following:

• A teenager was issued a state citation for drinking whisky under age 21 last Friday.
Clairborne Porter Long, 19, of 3323 Circle Brook Drive Apt. A, was issued a state citation during a reference drug check at 218 Mills Hall.

When police arrived at the room about 2:40 a.m., Andrew Carlton Butterworth, the room’s registered occupant, told them they could search his room, according to police reports. During the search, police reportedly found a small amount of marijuana.

Long was in the room, but had not checked into the doorm. During the search, Long reporedly admitted that he had been drinking whisky.

• Kenneth Harvey Sutherland, 53, was issued a state citation about 4:14 p.m. March 1 for operating a motorcycle without a license.

Officer Steve Metcalf stopped Sutherland after running his tags and finding that while his license plate was valid, he did not have a motorcycle operator’s endorsement on his driver’s license.

Metcalf did not impound the motorcycle, but told Sutherland he could not drive it off the campus.

• Twenty-seven textbooks were stolen from the school’s Robinson Hall.

The books were reported stolen about 10 a.m. Feb. 21, though another book was reported stolen from adjoining Rhodes Hall the night before.

The books, which were mostly chemistry textbooks, were taken from Robinson rooms 246, 246B, 324 and 243.

No one has been charged yet with the thefts.

• A vandalism at the Justice Gym on Feb. 23.

Someone broke a glass window at the gym, doing about $200 in damage.

• Police investigated an allegation by a student that another person had threatened her on Feb. 29.

Student Andrea Leigh Metzke, 28, filed a complaint that someone had issued a threat, though police reports did not identify the name of the suspect.

The incident took place about 11:20 p.m. 

• The arrest of a non-student on charges of second-degree tresspassing about 6:30 p.m. Feb. 28.

George Robert Martin, 27, was issued a state citations about 6:30 p.m. after campus police heard he was hanging around the entrance to the computer lab in New Hall.

Martin, whose address was listed as the Salvation Army at 204 Haywood St., previously had been banned from campus for breaking and entering, larceny and communicating threats, according to police reports.

He was patted down for weapons and escorted from the campus.

• A laptop computer was reported stolen from Ramsey Library just after 10 p.m. Feb. 26. No arrests have been made.

• The arrest of Steven Keith Scruggs II of 1198 Ferry Road on charges of possessing an altered driver’s license and driving while under the influence under age 21.

Officer Tara Bindewald reportedly saw four students get off the bus from the homecoming dance on Feb. 24 and get into a car after apparently having been drinking.

Bindewalds stopped the car after it drove onto the intersection of University Heights and Edgwood Drive.

Scruggs, 20, was driving and appeared to be intoxicated, according to the police report.

After performing poorly on a field sobriety test, he reportedly consented to an Alco-sensor test. His BAC came back at 0.17.

Officers then arrested him and transported him to the Buncombe County jail, where an altered license was found in his wallet. The license had been changed to indicate that he was 21.

• Marcus Augustus Damian Southern, 18, of 309 Flint Point Lane in Holly Springs, was arrested early Feb. 24 on a charge of consuming alcohol under age 21.

Officer Shannon Green reportedly saw Southern staggering when he got off a bus from a party. Southern then fell off the curb into the roadway.

Though he denied drinking and refused to submit to an Alco-sensor test, Southern appeared to be intoxicated, so Green issued him a state citation, according to warants.

• A student was charged with vandalism of an electrical generator at the school’s Founders Hall dormitory on Feb. 9. About $100 in damage resulted from spray painted grafitti, which was discovered just after midnight.

• A vandalism at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville on Feb. 7. About $100 in damage was done to the landscaping by someone spray painting grafitti. The damage was found just after 1 p.m.

Hilton charged with murder,
decapitation of Fla. woman

TALLAHASSE, Fla. — A drifter who is suspected of murdering a Henderson County couple was indicted Feb. 28 in another killing of a woman who was found decapitated in a Florida forest.

Gary Michael Hilton was charged with murder, kidnapping, and two counts of grand theft in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, acording to Leon County officials.

Hilton is currently serving a life sentence in the murder of a Georgia hiker and is the only suspect in the killings of John and Irene Bryant.

The Horse Shoe couple disappeared during a hike on Oct. 21 in the Pisgah National Forest near Pink Beds.

The body of Irene Bryant, 84, was found in November near the couple’s SUV. The skeletal remains of John Bryant, 80, were found last month in a forested area of Macon County.

Dunlap, 46, was a nurse and Sunday school teacher. Her body was found in Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest on Dec. 15.

Biltmore Forest to tackle speeding with laser guns

BILTMORE FOREST — Speeders in Biltmore Forest may have something new to worry about this summer — laser guns.

Biltmore Forest Police Chief Eric Tinsley told town commissioners on Feb. 12 that he is seeking state grants for one of the new “ladar” guns, which are more accurate than radar.

The department is trying to get a grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Commission, which could pay for up to 25 percent of the $3,487 device.

Tinsley said the ladar guns are able to pinpoint a single vehicle in traffic, as opposed to traditional radar guns that only detect the speed of the fastest vehicle in a cluster of traffic.

He said he hopes to have the laser gun by this summer. Currently, the department has one directional radar unit in a patrol car and three other handheld radar guns.

In other action, commissioners heard updates from Progress Energy about plans to trim trees in the town.

Crews should begin the work by March 10, starting in the south side of the town from Eastwood Drive, moving toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. The work is expected to take about three weeks.