Person of interest sought
in Shiloh shooting case

Asheville police detectives are searching for a South Asheville man wanted for questioning in the shooting last Friday of a teenage boy in the Shiloh community.

Parish Dewright Suber, 19, whose last known address was 12 Tried St., was classified as “a person of interest” by police in a shooting that left a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound in his lower back.

The teenager was listed in good condition Monday at Mission Hospitals. Suber has not been charged with a crime.

Suber and the victim were arguing over gambling at the time of the shooting, witnesses told police. The shooting occurred as a crowd assembled on Hampton Street, but no one has been willing to make an official statement, police noted.

Suber is black, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 142 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, according to investigators. He has tattoos on his right and left forearms that read “War” and “Boy,” words that indicated his involvement in a gang called the West Asheville Resistance, police said. However, police noted that they have found no evidence to indicate that the dispute was gang-related.

Suber is considered armed and dangerous, but has not been known to attack strangers, police said.
Police are asking anyone with information concerning Suber’s whereabouts or the shooting incident to call the police department at 252-1110 or Crimestoppers at 255-5050.

Man shot while walking
near Hillcrest Apartments

A 27-year-old man said he was shot near Asheville’s Hillcrest Apartments early last Friday in an incident that police say has no connection they have found with another shooting within 24 hours in the Shiloh community.

The man, who was walking with some friends under a bridge about 3:40 a.m., was shot in the back of his head, but the wound was not considered life-threatening.

The victim and his friends have not been cooperative with police about the shooting, which police believe may have been drug-related.

Woman injured in week’s 2nd shooting at complex

Police are still seeking the person who shot a woman on April 25 at Lee Walker Heights Apartments in the second such shooting at the complex in less than a week.

The 28-year-old woman suffered a wound in her left arm, just after midnight, police said. Lee Walker is a public housing complex just south of downtown Asheville.

A bullet was removed from the woman’s arm and is being held for evidence. Her injured were not considered life-threatening.

She reportedly was standing next to a fence under a streetlight when three to four shots were fired, witnesses told police. Friends took her to the hospital, where she then reported the shooting.

The shooter was involved in a fight earlier, according to investigators, who declined to release a description of the alleged perpetrator, saying it could jeopardize the investigation.

Witnesses reported seeing a silver four-door Lexus at the scene. Police said there was no evidence that the shooting involved gangs or was related to a shooting on April 20, when a man at a bus stop outside the apartments was shot in the leg in what police said was a gang-related attack.

Bank robbery suspect
sought in Weaverville

WEAVERVILLE — Police are on the lookout for a man who robbed the RBC Bank branch at 81 Weaverville Blvd. about 1:30 p.m. Monday.

The man walked into the bank and demanded money, according to Weaverville Police Detective Alan Wyatt.
The suspect is white, in his 30s, with a thin build and dark hair, unshaven and wearing a yellow striped polo-style shirt and khaki pants.

He reportedly drove off in a light gray or light silver sedan with North Carolina registration.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Weaverville Police Department at 645-5700 or Crimestoppers at 255-5050.

Woman, 33, pleads guilty
in sex case involving minors

WAYNESVILLE — Guilty pleas to sex crimes involving seven children ages 12-16 were entered April 25 by a Jackson County woman, officials said.

The crimes reportedly occurred in the home of 33-year-old Ermalynda Tarin.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, eight counts of solicitation to commit sexual exploitation of a minor, six counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor and two counts of felony child abuse.

No publishing of photos or tapes for the public was involved, according to officials.

Haywood County sheriff’s deputies arrested Tarin last May. She will face sentencing in June.

Woman, 31, gets sentence
in sex crime with boy, 13

WAYNESVILLE — After pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old boy, Stephanie Rae Mathis Spann of Sylva was sentenced on April 28 to a maximum of eight years in state prison.

Spann, 31, admitted to having sex with the boy in January 2007 at a Waynesville residence after having consensual sex with an adult relative of the boy, officials said.

She reportedly had been taking methamphetamine and drinking alcohol at the time of the crime. The boy reported the crime to his mother, who confronted Spann, officials said.

Gyrating dancer’s lawsuit
clears hurdle for court trial

MARSHALL — A 63-year-old Madison County woman, banned for life seven years ago from a Marshall dance hall for allegedly sexually suggestive gyrations, has won the right to take her lawsuit against the town to trial.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., issued a ruling last Wednesday that overturned the 2003 dismissal of Rebecca Willis’ lawsuit.

In the aftermath, the case now can advance to trial on the question of whether the town violated her constitutional right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment by singling her out and banning her from the Marshall Depot, the town’s public music arena.

In December 2000, Willis received a letter informing her that she had been banned permanently from the music hall for “inappropriate behavior.” She then filed suit in U.S. District Court in Asheville, protesting the ban.

The town stated in court documents that residents complained that Willis danced in a sexually provocative way, wearing short skirts while “simulating sexual intercourse wth her partner who hunched on the floor.”
In addition, several witnesses said in affidavits they could see Willis’ undergarments and “privates.”

To the contrary, the Appeals Court said there was evidence that Willis’ dancing style was appropriate and not unlike that of other dancers at the music hall — and that she dressed appropriately.