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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 06:50 |
Robbery victim shot twice;
injuries not life-threatening
The life of a man who was shot twice in the leg during a robbery last Sunday does not appear to be in any immediate danger, according to police.
The incident occured just before midnight when two unidentified men reportedly robbed the victim at gun point on Walton Street.
They
then drove off in a vehicle, firing shots as they left. Two rounds hit
the man in his thigh and ankle and another shot out the window of a
nearby vehicle.
The victim was taken to Mission Hospitals.
State probe of youth prison
concluding; report pending
An investigation
into assaults at the Swannanoa Valley Youth Center is nearly complete
and a report should be ready for the district attorneyës office within
days, the State Bureau of Investigation said last week.
District Attorney Ron Moore said last Friday that it would take him at least two weeks to review the report.
A critic of
North Carolinaës juvenile justice department, Moore says that assaults
by inmates in Swannanoa have been covered up by the departmentës
leaders.
Several staff
members at the facility were injured in a series of attacks last year.
One teacher suffered brain damage as a result of a beating.
Gov. Mike Easley
called for the SBI investigation after lawmakers complained. A police
presence was also reinstated at the center.
Convicted child molester will serve at least 24 years
A former medical
technician who pleaded guilty to multiple child-molestation charges
last Thursday will spend at least 24 years in prison.
Terry Lee
Carroll, 52, of Hendersonville was convicted in Buncombe County
Superior Court of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl after
pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree sex offense with a minor
and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.
Carroll also pleaded guilty to 25 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor related to child pornography found on his computer.
All the crimes occurred when Carroll was living in Asheville.
Carroll
reportedly had a previous conviction in the early 1990s for taking
indecent liberties with a child in Florida. Because the offense
occurred before North Carolinaës sex offender registration law was
passed in 1995, Carroll was not listed on the state registry.
Convicted habitual felon gets lengthy jail sentence
An Asheville man
was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after a Buncombe County
Superior Court jury found him guilty Jan. 10 of possession of stolen
property.
Robert Edgar Upchurch was sentenced to between 140 and 177 months in prison for being a habitual felon.
Upchurch
allegedly had about a dozen prior felony convictions for breaking and
entering and larceny charges. Those offenses occurred in Forsyth County
and Rhode Island.
Investigators
traced calls from a stolen cell phone to a motel where Upchurch was
staying and found stolen computers and electronic items from Asheville
Communications on Orchard Street, leading to his most recent conviction.
Police seize 56 dogs found
in kennels at Candler home
CANDLER ǃÓ
Authorities seized 56 dogs from a Buncombe County home last Wednesday
after finding the animals in poor health because of their living
conditions.
The Buncombe
County Sheriffës Department reported that the dogs did not have enough
food or water and that they were kept in kennels stacked three to four
high.
Animal control
officers were reportedly led to the Ridgeway Road house following an
anonymous tip. A search warrant had to be obtained because the
residents, a man and a woman, would not allow the officers to enter the
home.
Some of the
seized dogs, which ranged in age from puppies to mature dogs, were
reportedly found with parasites. They have been moved to the Buncombe
County Animal Shelter and animal-rescue facilities.
Early
investigations show that the two people living in the house have a
similar history in Alabama. No charges have been filed, as the
investigation is ongoing, police said.
Man charged with larceny
in theft of $500 worth of meat
An Asheville man
was arrested Jan. 9 on suspicion of stealing more than $500 worth of
meat from an East Asheville restaurant where he was employed.
Video
surveillance at Hamës Restaurant on Tunnel Road taped Jimmy Lee Brown,
42, stashing cases of ham, ribs, steak and shrimp in a trash can to be
taken away later, warrants said. Brown was charged with larceny by an
employee.
The Spruce Hill Court resident was arrested and released without bond.
Three attempted robberies
connected to Asheville man
A man who allegedly tried to rob three Asheville businesses on Jan. 9 was arrested later that day.
Timothy Craig
Johnson, 39, was charged with three counts of attempted common-law
(unarmed) robbery after he attempted to rob Spa Theology, Voltage
Records and Asheville Discount Pharmacy of cash, warrants said.
Johnson, a resident of Madison Avenue, was being held on a $30,000 bond.
Asheville ranks No. 1 in N.C. in drug busts, report says
Asheville is a
state leader in combating drug crime, according to police statements
that followed the release Jan. 9 of statistics on drug arrests and
seizures.
The numbers were
compiled because the Asheville Police Department had been facing public
criticism for its efforts in combating drug dealers, police said.
Police countered that they have been aggressive in fighting
drug-related crime.
The statistics show that Asheville in 2005 had the highest drug-arrest rate among North Carolinaës 10 largest cities.
Asheville police
made 127 drug arrests for every 10,000 in the population. Wilmington
came next with 100 drug arrests for every 10,000 people. The numbers
were based on the federal Uniform Crime Report.
Buncombe County made 82 arrests per 10,000 people, according to the city numbers.
City Councilman
Carl Mumpower responded to the released information by claiming that
police are failing in their attempts to fight drugs, despite doing
better than other cities.
Police also released the following figures:
ï A dedicated
Drug Suppression Unit, consisting of three police supervisors and 11
officers, was formed Oct. 1, 2004. Since that unit began operations,
felony drug arrests have increased 40 percent. All drug arrests,
including the less serious drug misdemeanors, have increased 21 percent.
ï Citywide, 8,094 rocks of crack cocaine, valued at $161,000, were seized.
Of those, 4,372 ÇƒÓ valued at $87,000 ÇƒÓ were seized in public housing.
ï Citywide, 16.5
kilos of powdered cocaine were seized. Of that total, 556.7 grams were
seized in public housing. If all this powdered cocaine had been
converted to crack cocaine it would have had a street value of about $3
million, according to police
ï Police seized 135 guns as part of this drug-enforcement activity. Thirty-six of that total were taken in public housing.
ï Six pounds of methamphetamine, valued at about $403,000, has been seized.
ï $750,000 in cash has been seized from drug dealers.
ï Thirty-two persons have been indicted on Federal charges; 27 of these have been arrested.
ï Most of the
people arrested have entered guilty pleas, even though they faced
sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison.
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