Grove Park Inn employee
accuses patron of assault

City police are investigating accusations that a Grove Park Inn spa patron sexually assaulted a male employee on Feb. 9.

According to police reports, the employee claimed that he was assaulted around 8:30 p.m.

The man said he was cleaning the locker room when a patron stopped him and physically restrained him. The attacker then exposed himself, unzipped the worker’s pants and touched his genitals. The assault allegedly lasted 20-30 minutes.

Police say the worker did not immediately report the assault to them. Rather, he told a security guard at the inn and then went to the Buncombe County Magistrate’s Office.

However, when the line there was too long, he left and came back Feb. 11 to report the alleged attack.
In the police report, officers noted that GPI staff refused to cooperate with investigators without a court order to do so.

However, Christine Lowe, the resort’s public relations manager, said the management would cooperate fully and does not have a policy of refusing to release information without a court order, as previously had been reported.

Police are reviewing footage from surveillance cameras to confirm the worker’s allegations.

Police file further charges
in Tunnel Rd. store robbery

Police last Saturday filed additional charges related to a robbery at a Tunnel Road pet store last month.
Police say Terrell Keith Young, 19, and Roderick Demon Durant, 17, brandished a shotgun and held up the Pet Supermarket at 244 Tunnel Rd. on Jan. 2. The pair allegedly robbed or attempted to rob seven people, taking mostly car keys and cell phones.

Young, who was an employee of the store, was charged with five counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was being held on $140,000 bond.

Durant was charged with four counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and one count of first-degree kidnapping.

The kidnapping charge stems from allegations that Durant kidnapped a male who was at least 16 years old. Durant was being held on $140,000 bond.

The suspects were arrested shortly after the robbery. A third person, who was listed in warrants as an unnamed juvenile, also was charged last month.

Man accused of assisting
fugitive wife to flee U.S.

An Asheville man was charged Feb. 11 with helping his wife flee the country to avoid prosecution on embezzlement charges.

Matthew Lawlor, 44, of 24 Fieldcrest Circle, was charged with obstructing justice for allegedly telling police on Jan. 14 that his wife, Julie Lawlor, was in Ireland. She was still in Asheville at the time, according to authorities.

Matthew Lawlor then helped her flee to Ireland before warrants could be served, authorities say.
Julie Lawlor is wanted on four outstanding warrants that allege she embezzled $90,000 from her employer, Ancient Sun Nutrition, a health-product company.

Matthew Lawlor was being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on $250,000 bond.

Sentences handed down
for video poker operators

Key figures in the Henderson Amusement Inc., illegal gambling operation were sentenced by a federal judge on Feb. 13, but their imprisonments were temporarily delayed.

The move is an apparent preparation for the government’s plan to call witnesses to testify against former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford.

During the daylong hearings, prosecutors said that other law-enforcement officers were involved in illegal gambling and detailed a lucrative operation that spanned much of Western North Carolina.

Those sentenced include:

• James Otis Henderson, one of the company’s co-owners. He was sentenced to six years in prison for running an illegal gambling business and for bribing law-enforcement officers.

• His younger brother, Barron Sloan Henderson, who owned 25 percent of the company. He could spend a year in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business.

• Harold Steve Hartness, a private investigators who worked for the company’s attorney. Hartness will spend 3 1/2 years in prison for witness tampering. He was convicted of coaching witnesses on how to lie to a grand jury.

• Jerry Pennington, a top Henderson employee. Pennington will serve five years in federal prison for violations including bribing a public official.

As part of the plea deal the four men made with prosecutors, they have offered “substantial assistance” to the government, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Edwards, and are expected to continue to do so in upcoming cases.

Currently, the only case related to video gambling on the court docket is that of Medford and his associates. The former sheriff, two of his former deputies, and two longtime supporters face numerous charges including conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and extortion.

Authorities say they have enough evidence related to the Medford case to fill a room inside the federal courthouse.

Investigators have seized more than 65 bank boxes of documents and tax returns of more than 10 people. They also have collected testimony transcripts from more than 100 grand jury witnesses.

Prosecutors also say they have video and audio recordings of bribe payments being made to a sheriff working as an undercover informant and documentation of bribes made to multiple other sheriffs in the region between Charlotte and Murphy.

The size of the evidence was cited by prosecutors in a request to certify that a March 25 trial date will meet the specifications of the federal Speedy Trial Act.

That date is about two weeks after the law’s requirement that suspects be tried within 70 days of their arrest.

Planned Parenthood blaze
not arson, investigators say

Fire investigators say they have found no evidence of arson at a Planned Parenthood building that was heavily damaged by fire last weekend.

Witnesses reported hearing an explosion in the building, which could have been caused by fumes from paints and other materials reaching the heat of the fire in the utility room where a heating unit was housed, according to Asheville-Buncombe Arson Task Force investigator Jeff Tracz.

Furthermore, there was no indication of a break-in.

The fire started Sunday morning in the second-floor utility room and spread through the kitchen and hallway.

5 UNC Asheville students
cited for underage drinking

UNC Asheville campus police issued state citations to five students Feb. 14 for drinking under age 21.

Campus housing staff contacted police about possible drug use in room 108 of the Mills Hall dormitory.

When officers arrived, they found empty beer cans in the common area of the room, according to police reports.

The five students denied drinking, but agreed to take an Alco-sensor test. All five of them tested positive for alcohol consumption.

The students cited include:

• Ethan Chesson, with a 0.10 BAC.
• Lauren Basso, with a 0.08 BAC.
• Andrew Holliday with a 0.07 BAC.
• Ian MacLellan with a 0.07 BAC.
• Evan Edwards with a 0.11 BAC. Edwards also was charged with aiding and abetting underage drinking.