Johnny Patterson

Police involved in 2 chases
during course of one night

Asheville police arrested two men in separate vehicle chases the night of July 30 and the following morning.

Both chases ended in arrests, with one suspect being tazered after he allegedly resisted arrest.

The first incident ended about 8:40 p.m., when Johnny Patterson, 33, crashed a car into a chain-link fence and bottomed out on a concrete bump behind the Overlook Apartments on Bartlett Street, police said.

Patterson had been sitting in a parked car at the Bartlett Arms Apartments with the engine idling when two officers from the Drug Suppression Unit approached him for allegedly having fictitious tags.

After he refused to turn off the ignition, the officers removed a passenger from the vehicle, but Patterson then accelerated and hit the officers with the open driverís-side door, according to reports. No one was injured in the incident.

Police allegedly found less than half an ounce of marijuana in the car.

Patterson was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, resisting arrest, two counts of assault on a government official, damage to property, possession of marijuana, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license.

The second chase started on Smokey Park Highway about 1 a.m. the following morning when a driver failed to stop as an officer attempted to pull him over on suspicion of driving while impaired.

Shadrack Waters

Shadrack Waters Jr., 31, failed to pull over as the officer activated his blue lights and sirens, according to reports.

He then led police on a chase through West Asheville to Interstates 240 and 26, exiting at the Long Shoals Road exit, police said.

During the 20-minute pursuit that ensued, speeds reached 80 mph on the interstates and 45 mph on secondary roads. It ended when Waters stopped at a subdivision off Mills Gap Road and began running on foot from two Asheville Police Department officers and a Buncombe County Sheriffís Deputy.

One of the officers then tazered him to stop him.

Waters, an Arden resident, was charged with passing on a double yellow line, felony speeding to elude, reckless driving, driving while license revoked, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Waters and Patterson were each being held in lieu of a $3,000 bond.

Murder charges upgraded
in light of autopsy findings

Charges against Dmitry Simonovich, who is accused of murdering his wife, have been upgraded from second- to first-degree murder following an autopsy of her body last Wednesday.

Investigators in Chapel Hill confirmed that Inna Simonovich died of manual strangulation, prompting Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore to conclude that the killing was deliberate and, therefore, warranted the more serious charge.
The autopsy also revealed that she was three months pregnant at the time of her death.

Inna Simonovich was found dead in her apartment about 2 a.m. July 29 after Dmitri Simonovich allegedly approached an officer outside the downtown police station and told him that he had killed her.

Simonovich is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility on a $1 million bond.

Investigators said that children were inside the apartment at the time of the incident, but they were not injured. The elementary school-age children are not believed to be the biological children of the Simonoviches, according to police.

The couple, who are originally from Belarus, had been living at the Ledgewood Village Apartments.

2 former sheriffís deputies
arrested in gambling sting

Two former Buncombe County Sheriffís deputies are among a dozen people facing federal charges for their alleged involvement in illegal video poker casinos, federal authorities said in court documents unsealed July 31.

Federal authorites say Lt. Ronnie Eugene Davis, 60, and reserve Capt. Guy Kenneth Penland, 75, were on the payroll of Henderson Amusement Co. Ten employees of the company also were charged with serving as money-carriers and overseers.
The arrests came July 31 during raids by the FBI in two states. Davis, Penland and nine others had their first court appearances at the federal courthouse in Asheville, while another man was charged in Florida.

Officials say that one of the former deputies transported the gambling companyís owners to an illegal video poker deal in a squad car.

Both deputies have since left the department.

The raid came as part of a series of federal investigations into lucrative gambling operations in North Carolina.

The state banned video gambling effective July 1. Until the ban went into effect, operators had been permitted to keep up to three machines that could pay winners up to $10 in store murchandise.

However, investigators claim that a number of businesses continued to pay out large sums of money and, in some cases, maintained stores whose only purpose was illegal video poker gambling.

Federal authorities said they expect to file further charges against the defendents.

Investigators said in court papers that the participation of the two deputies gave an impression of legitimacy to the operation.
Penland, who lives at 50 Robinwood Ave., Asheville, is charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling operation and obstruction of justice by a local law enforcement official.

Court papers allege that Penland persuaded a business owner in 2003 to operate Henderson machines in his store as a ìfavor.î

After agreeing to set the machines up in his store, the business owner allegedly told Barron Henderson that he did not want to make payouts, but was reassured that Henderson ìhad an arrangement with law enforcement and that it was alright to make cash payouts,î according to the court papers.

Furthermore, two years later, Penland, who was then the reserve captain under former Sheriff Bobby Medford, ran the tag of an undercover police car used in a surveillance operation at a gambling operation in Shelby at the request of one of Hendersonís employees, according to the court documents. Medford left office after losing the election to Sheriff Van Duncan in November.

Davis, who lives at 197 Aurora Drive, Asheville, also is charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling operation.

Federal authorities allege that Davis served as a go-between for Henderson, taking him to meet the business owner in a patrol car.
Henderson Amusement allegedly operated 350 video poker machines in the North Carolina at 122 locations in 2005 with gross receipts of $3.6 million and payouts of $2.3 million, according to court documents. It also had machines in seven other Southern states.

The investigation by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service claims that the business operated as follows:
The merchants in whose stores the machines were located conducted the daily management of the machines, including cash payouts.

Employees of Henderson found new locations, convinced storeowners to install the machines there and transported the money.
Employees also negotiated how the money was to be split and instructed business owners on how to make payouts. Only known customers were to receive payments.

Once a week, a Henderson employee would check out the machines and get a printed report of each oneís cash in and out. The total out was deducted from the total in and the profit was split with the business owner, usually 60-40 in the ownerís favor.

The Hendrson employee then brought the ticket and money to Hendersonís offices in Kings Mountain or in Inman, S.C.
The machines most commonly used by teh company were Pot-O-Gold machines that spit out a paper ticket that the player could bring to the counter and exchange for cash.

If jackpots exceeded the amount of money the store had on hand, Henderson would cover it.

Some of the storeowners and clerks have reportedly testified before the grand jury about the operation, according to court papers.
It is uncertain what connection, if any, last weekís raid had with two previous raids on June 28 and Nov. 14. But all three involved incidents that took place during Medfordís tenure.

The arrests, which in some cases stem from illegal activity dating back as many as six years, come a month after federal agents raided eight business in Buncombe and Madison counties.

In raids in Buncombe and Mdison counties a month ago, FBI agents seized video poker machines and records at six businesses running machines registered to longtime Medford supporter and campaign contributer Jack W. Shepherd.

According to federal investigators, someone from the sheriffís office called Shepherdís Cherokee Trading Post shop several times on Nov. 14, the same day federal and state agents raided the homes and businesses of video gambling operator and restaurateur Demetre Theodossis.

Those raids yielded $1.7 million in cash stashed in Theodossisí attic, false walls in his house and dog food containers. The federal government is currently involved in a lawsuit to keep that money and more it found in bank accounts, alleging it came from illegal video poker operations.

However, Theodossisí attorney, Sean Devereux, has argued that the government hasnít made its case that the money came from illegal operations.

Theodossisí company owns several Hot Dog King restaurants that were raided. Investigators claim the restaurants served as video poker locations, but Theodossis has not yet been charged.

In addition to the two former deputies, the following people were charged July 31:

ï Barron Sloan Henderson, co-owner of Henderson Amusement Inc. He was charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling operation and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

ï His brother, James Otis Henderson, the other company owner, charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling operation, money laundering and witness tampering.

ï Jeffery Lee Childers, of Forest City.

Childers is accused of picking up money for Henderson Amusements at 30 video poker locations.

He is charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling business and money laundering. According to court papers, Childers paid an unnamed ex-Rutherford County Sheriffís deputy to run one of his gambling houses.

ï Randall Wayne Giles, charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling business, according to court papers.

Giles allegedly provided one business with $1,200 a week to make illegal payouts,
ï Harold Steve Hartness, a private investigators hired by Henderson to, according to court papers, ìcoach and train store owners and clerks in methods of lying to the grand juryî about the operationís profit-sharing system. He is charged with conspiracy to run illegal gambling operations.

ï Michael Ray Elliott, who is accused of helping store owners with extra cash to cover large payouts Ellis faces charges of conspiracy to run an illegal gambling operation.

ï Kathy Stephen, another Henderson employee who collected money and delivered ìjackpotî winnings to stores, according to court papers. She also is charged with conspiracy to run an illegal video gambling business.

ï Marty Marvin Babb, who allegedly made large payouts for Henderson, charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling business, according to the documents.

ï Dexter Wayne Winfield Jr., the owner of a business that operated Henderson machines and made up to $10,000 a week, according to court papers.

Winfield is charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling business, according to the documents.

ï William Brown, who was arrested in Florida, charged with conspiracy to run an illegal gambling business, according to the documents.