Tyler Kilpatrick smiles in Mexico before the attack in her Facebook picture.

UNCA student stabbed
in Mexico returns home

Tyler Kilpatrick, the UNC Asheville student who was stabbed in Mexico, returned to her Hendersonville home in time for Christmas on Dec. 23, thanks to the efforts of two local pilots, Mike Summey and his son Jason.

They were accompanied by Dr. Robert Wells of Asheville, an internist who practices at Mission Hospitals; and J.J. Kilpatrick, Tyler’s father. Prior to the trip, Dr. Wells consulted with Kilpatrick’s Mexican physicians.

Part of the more than $6,000 cost for fuel is being covered by the Buncombe County Council of Independence Business Owners.

The 2006 Hendersonville High School graduate had been released from the hospital and is “doing well,” her father said. For a time, she had been in intensive care.

Tyler Kilpatrick, 22, suffered life-threatening injuries when she was stabbed more than a dozen times while fighting off an attack by a cab driver in Cuernavaca, about 50 miles outside Mexico City on Nov. 29.

Reportedly, she was hailing a cab when the driver mugged and stabbed her repeatedly in the back. Her lungs were punctured and several stab wounds barely missed vital organs. She underwent surgery on Nov. 30.

Her father said police are still looking for the assailant and that his daughter did not know the man.

“I want to stress that this is a fluke thing and it could happen anywhere in the world, even in Hendersonville,” he told reporters. “Everyone down here has been extremely nice and accommodating. We will be glad to get her home.”

The junior Spanish major had been attending classes at the Cuernavaca campus of Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech university system), about 50 miles south of Mexico City, as part of UNCA’s study-abroad program since August.

Kilpatrick was to return home this month after the semester ended. She aspires to be an international translator.
Summey, an Asheville businessman, and his son flew his Beechcraft airplane on Dec. 21 to pick up Tyler and her family and bring them back to Hendersonville. A private flight reportedly can cost up to $18,000.

Hendersonville businesses and organizations, including Crooked Creek Golf Club, American Legion, the Elks Club and Hannah Flannagan’s, are collecting donations to help with the Kilpatrick’s expenses. A fund for Tyler Kilpatrick also has been set up at Macon Bank in Hendersonville.

In a prepared statement, UNCA noted that its Study Abroad office “has been in close contact with Ms. Kilpatrick, her relatives and the host university in Mexico to ensure that she has the support needed.”

Woman told child to hide
rape, sheriff’s deputies claim

Buncombe County sheriff’s deputies on Dec. 15 arrested a woman charged with telling a child to not report sex offenses to authorities.

Terrie Lynn Davis, 35, of Hensley Drive, was charged with two counts of accessory after the fact. Davis reportedly told the juvenile victim not to report the rapes, which happened in 2003 and 2005.

The man charged with the rapes, Michael Todd Aldt, 36, of Hensley Drive, was arrested after a stand-off with deputies earlier this month. Aldt was charged with two counts of raping a child and two counts of statutory rape of a minor under 16. Davis’ bvond was set at $440,000.

Three women charged
in Asheville escort sting

Three local women were arrested on Dec. 8 in an escort sting operation as a part of an ongoing investigation targeting prostitution and illegal massage services by the Asheville Police Department.

Vice officers of the APD Drug Suppression Unit, who engineered the bust, have been targeting illegal services that have been advertised on Web sites, including Craigslist and Cityvibe.com, police reported.

The following were charged in the sting:

• Sherry Greubel, birth date 38, of Asheville, with massage without license, solicit for prostitution and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

• Deborah Rose Hisel, 51, of Arden, with solicit for prostitution.

• Lisa Faith Miller, 49, of Asheville, with massage without license, solicit for prostitution and possession of schedule iii hydrocodone.

The women charged in the operation either were posting Internet advertisements for services or working for an escort/massage service.

North Carolina law requires all massage therapists to be fully certified and licensed to practice in the state, the APD noted, adding that consumers may check a therapist’s credentials on the North Carolina Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy Web site at www.bmbt.org.

Ex-prison worker charged with having sex with inmate

A former counselor at Craggy Correctional Center on Dec. 15 was arrested on charges of having sex with an inmate serving a life sentence for murder.

 Tina Lynn Devore, 42, was charged with three counts of sexual activity by a custodian at the medium-security state prison for adult males, located just north of Asheville.

The indictments allege that Devore had sexual relations with inmate David Lee Williams, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1981.

Sex between custodians and inmates endagers the public because it increases the possibility of weapons being smuggled in, escapes and hostage situations, officials noted.

The State Bureau of Investigation probe the case, according to District Attorney Ron Moore, who declined to provide further details of the alleged crimes.

Devore allegedly engaged in intercourse with Williams in 2008 on or about Oct. 29, Nov. 3 and Nov. 22.
She worked as a substance abuse counselor for the N.C. Department of Corrections from August 2008 until she resigned in April.

A conviction on a charge of sexual activity by a custodian carries a potential term of 15 to 98 months in prison for someone with no previous criminal record, officials said.

Three women arrested
in Hendersonville toy sting

HENDERSONVILLE — Three Edneyville women were charged in a Dec. 9 sting with trying to steal toys from a charity that gives Christmas presents to needy children.

Their arrest occurred three days after thieves took a four-wheeler a couple had bought for their grandson.
The women allegedly tried to steal more than $1,700 worth of toys from Toys for Tots by posing as social workers, according to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Arrested were Monica Renea White, 27; Latisha Elizabeth White, 19; and Grasuela Lopez Rios, 51, all of Hawk Meadow Drive.

Rios, charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and conspiracy, is a former Health Department employee and interpreter. She had pleaded guilty on Oct. 23 to charging public health clients for contraceptives that were supposed to be provided free.

Monica White is charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and conspiracy.

Elizabeth White is charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense, conspiracy and forgery and uttering of endorsement.

Ruth Holbert, assistant area coordinator for WNC Toys for Tots, said she received a fax from the women in November requesting more than 262 bags of toys for children.

One fax said it was from the Henderson County Department of Public Health and requested 166 toy bags. Another fax said it was from Henderson County Public Schools, requesting 96 toy bags.

Each toy bag includes one large gift, a stuffed animal and usually other toys that are age-appropriate.
“About a week ago, this person called to check on their request,” Holbert told the Hendersonville Times-News. “From what the woman said, it became obvious it was a scam.”

After checking around further, Holbert eventually contacted the sheriff’s department, who set up a sting using undercover deputies.

When the women tried to leave with the haul from the agency’s warehouse in the Wal-Mart shopping center on Highland ßquare Drive, just outside Hendersonville, they were immediately arrested by deputies.

Former museum official
charged with embezzling

HENDERSONVILLE — Deputies on Dec. 11 charge the former assistant director of the Henderson County Heritage Museum with embezzling $31,499 from the museum.

Warrants were issued for Robert D. Sumner, 42, of Bradshaw Avenue, Hendersonville, who was expected to turn himself in, according to the Henderson Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation began in June, when members of the museum’s board and its directors approached authorities with concerns that museum funds were being stolen.

Sumner allegedly used a museum credit card to pay for car repairs and wrote of the charge as janitorial costs.