Former Asheville firefighter
faces 10 years for sex crime

A former Asheville firefighter faces a minimum of 10 years in prison after being convicted last Friday of trying to lure into sex someone he thought was 14 years old on the Internet.

Robert Martin Kutzer, 32, of Leicester was convicted of online enticement of a minor to engage in an unlawful sex act by a jury in U.S. District Court.

He was arrested in October by Buncombe County sheriff’s deputies after undercover officers, posing as an adolescent girl, engaged in online chats with Kutzer. During those chats, he steered the conversation to the subject of sex and arranged to meet the girl.

The conviction carrries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.
The Asheville Fire department hired Kutzer in May 2003. He was put on investigative suspension at the time of his arrest and was officially fired in October. He also worked as a volunteer Leicester firefighter.

SBI investigating death
of Transylvania prisoner

BREVARD — The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of a prisoner at a Transylvania County jail, Sheriff David Mahoney announced Jan. 22.

David Wayne Hogsed, an inmate at the Transylvania County Detention Center, died Jan. 19 after experiencing respiratory distress, officials said.

He was arrested in March on charges of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 27-year-old Joshua Austin Raines.

Hogsed, 45, was being held without bond at the jail.

Waynesville pair charged
with soliciting for teen sex

WAYNESVILLE — Police last week arrested a Canton Middle School teacher and another man with soliciting sex from children online.

Thomas Eric Allen Jr., 45, a seventh-grade social studies teacher, was arrested last Thursday on charges of felony solicitation of a child by computer to commit an unlawful sex act.

Police say Allen carried on a weekend-long online conversation with Detective Crystal Shuler, who wsa posing as a 15-year-old boy.

 During the course of the correspondence, Allen allegedly made arrangements to meet for sex.
Police also arrested Bart Russell Zarcone, 68, last Friday after he allegedly had illicit conversations with officers posing as a teenager. He is accused of felony solicitation of a child by computer to commit an unlawful sex act.

The investigation began after the men posted ads on the Web site Craigslist seeking young boys for sex, Shuler said.

Allen was released on a $6,000 secured bond. Zarcone was being held in the Haywood County Detention Center in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Haywood County School officials said there was nothing in Allen’s background check that caused concern when he was hired just over a year ago. He has never been the subject of a complaint until now, they noted.

He has been suspended without pay pending an investigation by school officials. If the school board determines he broke school policies, he could be fired and have his license revoked, barring him from teaching anywhere in the country.

Police found sex paraphernalia and videotapes at Allen’s house on Poplar Street in Canton, and at Zarcone’s residence, according to warrants.

Zarcone moved to Clyde from Florida a year ago.

Neither man has been charged with sex crimes before, and neither is married, officials said.

Anyone with information or concerns about the men can contact the Waynesville Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit at 356-1175 or Canton Police at 648-2376.

Police probing robbery
at W. Asheville food store

Police are investigating an armed robbery at the Shell Food Mart at 495 Haywood Road in West Asheville last Wednesday.

The store’s manager told police that two men entered the store just before 10 p.m. brandishing handguns. One man wore a ski mask and sunglasses, while the other wore a black and white bandanna.

The men demanded money and then fled on foot with about $1,200 toward the Burton Street area.
A videotape shows a third man standing lookout just inside the front door of the store.

Hendersonville resident
arrested on pot charges

A Hendersonville resident was arrested last Saturday on charges of trafficking marijuana by transport. Francisco Javier Magana, 20, was being held on a $50,000 bond.

Other Buncombe County arrests over the weekend include:

• June Renay Webster, 39, arrested by Buncombe County Sheriff’s deputies on charges of forgery of an instrument, uttering a forged instrument and exploiting a disabled person or elder.

The Asheville resident is being held on a $50,000 bond.

Christopher Stewart Phillips, 29, on charges of possessing 0.7 grams of crack cocaine.
The Canton resident was being held on a $1,000 bond.

• Sharon Cassandra Bates, 60, charged with cocaine possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, giving fictitious information to an officer, failure to stop at a stop sign and driving with a revoked license.

Bates was being held on a $1,500 bond.

• Andrew Garrett Coleman, 21, on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle.
He was being held in lieu of $1,000 bond.

• Kyle McGee Giddens, 23, on charges of larceny of a motor vehicle and damage to real property.
He was being held on a $2,500 bond.

Shattering of car window
by vandal reported at UNCA

UNC Asheville campus police reported that the rear window of a student’s car was shattered by a vandal last Friday evening.

Catherine Lorraine Williams, 19, reported that someone had broken the window of her 2003 Ford Taurus while it was parked in the upper lot of the Ridges parking deck about 6 p.m.

No one has been charged in the crime.

In other action, UNCA campus police reproted:

• A person arrested for DWI on Founders Drive about 11:30 p.m. last Thursday.
• The theft of a laptop computer at Westridge Hall about 12:20 p.m. Jan. 22.
• The theft of a video-game console from Westridge Hall just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 22.