Female student reports assault, robbery at UNCA

A female student at UNC Asheville reported being assaulted and robbed about 3:30 a.m. last Sunday at the parking lot outside of the Founders Hall dormitory.

The victim reported that two African-American males exited a small, white four-door sedan and approached her as she was walking on the sidewalk from the Highsmith University Union toward Founders Hall.

The men allegedly tried to grab her purse unsuccessfully, injuring her in the process. They managed to get her wallet and fled in their vehicle. No weapons were involved in the assault.

Campus police are asking anyone with information about the attackers to come forward. One man is described as an African-American male, about 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 inches tall, in his late 20s with corn-row braids with clear beads on the ends, muscular, with a sleeveless white t-shirt, light-colored jeans and white sneakers.

The second man is described as  African-American male, about 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 inches tall, 20-21 years old, with short, cropped hair, wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt with multicolor splatter design on front of shirt, light-colored denim jeans and white sneakers.

Their vehicle was a white four-door sedan with heavily tinted windows, a North Carolina plate with the letters XP, and a silver-chain license-plate frame.

Anyone with information about the assault can call campus police at 251-6710.

Suspect sought in robbery
at Centura Bank in Candler

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Surveillance camera footage of bank robber

CANDLER ­— Buncombe County investigators are searching for a man who robbed a bank in Candler last Friday afternoon.

The robbery took place at the RBC Centura Bank branch on Highway 19-23 at its intersection with Sand Hill and Asbury roads.

Lt. Ross Dillingham of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office sent out an appeal for help finding the suspect, as he noted that officials currently have no viable leads.

The suspect is described as white, about 6 feet tall and weighing 160-175 pounds. He is about 30 years old with a receding hairline and dark hair and was wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt with white mittens or socks on his hands.

Officials believe that after robbing the bank, he walked a short distance on 19-23 and then turned on Asbury Road.

Anyone with information about the robbery can call CrimeStoppers at 255-5050.

Police investigate robbery
at West Asheville residence

City police are investigating an armed robbery that took place March 16 at a West Asheville home.
According to police reports, two people knocked on the door of a Deaverview residence that was occupied by a 61-year-old man. When the resident unlocked and opened the front door, one of the assailants held a gun under his chin and demanded the keys to a scooter that was parked outside.

The man then pulled everything out of his pockets and let it fall on the floor. When the robbers reached down to pick up the keys, the man fled and tried to flag down a passing vehicle.

At that point, the assailants fled from teh residence into Deaverview Apartments.

Anyone with information about the incident can call police at 252-1110.

Sheriff’s Office investigating
stabbing at home in Emma

EMMA — Buncombe County sheriff’s detectives are investigating a stabbing taht took place March 18 at a home in Emma.
Deputies responded to the stabbing just after midnight at a home on Kenwood Street. There, they found

Kenneth Brown stabbed in the chest. Brown did not live at the residence.

He was taken to Mission Hospitals where he was listed in serious condition.

Family sues former church
over minister’s sex abuses

A family that endured two decades of sexual abuse by one of the ministers at its church is now suing the church for its failure to stop the abuses.

Leonard Smith was sentencd to more than 14 years in prison Nov. 29 for abusing three members of the Clement family over a span of 20 years.

Smith was the music minister at the Sycamore Temple Church of God in Christ in Asheville when the abuses took place.

Alvin Clement, four John Does and Sylvia Clement, a guardian for a minor John Doe, filed suit against Smith, the local church and the national church that governs it.

The suit claims the church knew what was happening and failed to stop it and that the state and national offices knew of Smith’s abuses, but continued to allow him to work in the church.

David Clement said the family had tried to talk to the national churches, but had been “blown off” by them.

The lawsuit was filed in Guilford County, where Clement is now working as a state trooper. It brings charges of civil battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence, and seeks a minimum of $10,000 for each plaintiff, legal fees and “other such relief as the court shall deem reasonable and appropriate.”

Judge delays Medford trial
at request of his attorney

A judge granted a request by former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford’s lawyer to delay his client’s public-corruption trial by 30 days.

Judge Thomas Selby Ellis issued a one-page order moving the trial date back to April 29, after defense attorney Stephen Lindsay asked for more time to prepare his case.

Lindsay said it would take him a month working eight hours a day just to go over all of the documents amassed in the case. He said he already has photocopied 12,000 pages of documents.

Medford, his co-defendant former reserve Capt. Guy Kenneth Penland, and three other former deputies were arrested Dec. 13 on charges related to illegal gambling, extortion and misconduct by government officials.

The three other deputies have already pleaded guilty as part of plea deals in which they have agreed to testify against Medford.

If convicted, Medford could face up to 70 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

Man charged with burglary,
urinating on fellow inmate

A man was charged last Saturday with breaking into an Asheville home and then urinating on a fellow inmate at the Buncombe County Detention Center.

Kevin Deran Copelin, 33, of 225 Patton Ave., was charged with simple assault and first-degree burglary.

Copelin is accused of breaking into a home at 79 Buchanan Ave. between 11 and 11:45 p.m.

He also allegedly urinated on an inmate who was sleeping in a holding sell.

Bond was set at $5,000 for the burglary charge and $1,000 for the assault charge.

ACLU asks city to remove
Web site of crime suspects

The American Civil Liberties Union on North Carolina recently wrote to the City of Asheville questioning the legality of a new Web site on which the Asheville Police Department publishes the names and pictures of prostitution suspects.

ACLU Legal Director Katie Parker said the site could violate suspects’ due-process rights, because it is meant to shame people for crimes of which they have not yet been convicted.

City police launched the Web site in February as part of an effort to embarrass accused prostitutes and their customers.

However, the ACLU has received seeral complaints from residents about the program, prompting the group’s March 6 letter to Assistant City Attorney Curt Euler.

But the group does not currently plan to sue the city over the practice, as no one has come forward as a plaintiff, Parker said.

While media outlets often publish names and photos of people arrested by police, Parker argued that it is unconstitutional for governments to use this method as a deterrent or punishment for people who have not yet been convicted.

City spokeswoman Laurie Saxton said the city sees no problem with the police department Web site.