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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 14:18 |
UNCA student charged
in mushrooms, pot case
Samuel P. Beckett, 22, a student at UNC Asheville, was arrested by campus police at 12:02 a.m. last Thursday on one count each of felonious possession of psilocybin mushrooms and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Beckett, who lives in Mills Hall at UNCA and is from Renick, W.Va., was charged with possession of ìother hallucinogensî and marijuana.
UNCA police, who responded to a call regarding a fire alarm in Room 110, noticed upon arrival much smoke around the room and hallway.
Arresting
Officer David Shelton, accompanied by Sgt. Joseph Jones and Officer
Robbie Craig, contacted the roomís residents to ensure that conditions
were satisfactory in the room.
While Jones and
Craig were checking the room for safety purposes, Shelton addressed
Beckett about ìa substantial amount of alcohol in the room, along with
everyone smoking cigars, which caused all of the smoke that set the
fire alarm off,î the police report noted.
Beckett
reportedly told Shelton that he was 21 years old and could prove that
he had not been drinking by giving himself a breath test on his
personal Alco-Sensor.
As Beckett
opened a drawer on a desk in the living area to get the testing device,
Shelton said he noticed a homemade marijuana bowl, made from a
lightbulb.
ìI removed the
bowl from the drawer since it was in plain view and proceeded to ask
where the marijuana was,î Shelton reported. ìMr. Beckett stated that
there wasnít any in the room and that some of his friends had left the
marijuana bowl, but he didnít know who.î
Upon
questioning, Beckettís roommate, Alexander Eldreth, denied that the
bowl belonged to him and said he also did not know who owned the bowl.
After Jones and
Craig searched the room and found much drug paraphernalia, along with a
small amount of marijuana, Beckett reportedly asked Craig ìif he found
the mushrooms...î Craig replied that he had found them.
Beckett then was arrested, transported to the Buncombe County Detention Center and placed under a $1,000 bond for the mushrooms.
In other recent activity, campus police:
ï Issued a state
citation to Karl E. Reinhartsen, a UNCA student, for misdemeanor
possession of alcohol under age 21 about 10:40 p.m. March 15 in Mills
Hall.
Reinhartsen, 19, who is from Chapel Hill, also received a verbal warning for trespassing in Mills Hall.
Police said the
citation and warning were issued after they received a call about the
Reinhartson, who was on the residence ban list for entering Mills Hall
and visiting someone in Room 117.
Upon
Reinhartsenís departure, the night assistant called and stated that he
had left and was heading toward Highsmith University Union, the police
report noted.
Arresting
Officer Shannon Green, accompanied by Assistant Police Chief Jerry
Adams, said they found Reinhartsen sitting in the lobby of Highsmith,
watching television.
ìWhile we were
talking with him about being in Mills Hall, we observed an odor of
alcohol on his breath,î Green reported. ìHe admitted that he had
consumed alcohol earlier, but refused to take an Alco-Sensor test. We
also observed him to have slurred speech.î
ï Arrested Brij
Krishna Verma, 22, of Wilson for misdemeanor trespassing at University
Heights and
Campus Drive about 1:30 p.m. March 17.
Verma, who
listed himself in the police report as unemployed, was driving a
four-door 1994 Volvo 940, accompanied by a passenger, Donald A.
Standridge.
Officers Robbie
Craig and David Shelton noted that they were getting into their patrol
vehicles on University Heights, when they were passed by a Volvo with
North Carolina license plate VZR-6699.
Verma, who had
been issued a campuswide ban on Jan. 24, was stopped by the officers,
who questioned him. Verma reportedly said that he was dropping off some
friends who were UNCA students, ìalthough he understood that he had
been banned from campus,î Craig noted.
Shelton searched
the vehicle. Upon learning that Standridge has a suspended license and,
therefore, could not take possession of the vehicle, the officer
advised Standridge that he could leave the scene.
With Vermaís consent, Kaitlin Siobhan Burdette was called in to take possession of his vehicle.
Prominent business leader
charged with fleeing crash
FAIRVIEW ó A
prominent Asheville businessman was arrested March 20 following a
crash, which state troopers say took place as he was fleeing the scene
of a four-car pileup.
Gordon Myers, 62, was reportedly listed in fair condition at Mission Hospitals following the crash.
He now faces charges of reckless driving, hit and run and impaired driving, according to police reports.
Myers has held a
number of key business and government positions, including chairman of
the state chamber of commerce and Asheville city councilman, as well as
serving on various state boards on the lottery, economic development,
transportation and rural land.
The Fairview
resident also has served as chairman of Advantage West, an economic
recruiting agency, since its inception more than a decade ago.
Myers reportedly took an indefinite leave of absense from that post last Wednesday.
In the first
accident, Myers allegedly crashed his sport utility vehicle into a van,
after he failed to slow down for a chain reaction crash at 6 p.m. on
Cane Creek Road. Two girls, ages 7 and 12, were among the passengers in
the van.
State Highway
Patrol troopers claim that Myersí failure to stop in time was the
result of alcohol, according to accident reports.
Then, just 16
minutes after he allegedly fled the scene of the first accident, his
SUV reportedly ran off of Gap Creek Road near Emmaís Grove Road, the
street where he lives. It hit a tree and a fence before throwing Myers
from the vehicle.
Gene Ellison,
Myersí attorney, denied claims that his client was intoxicated at the
time, noting that the results of a blood test have not come back yet.
Myers retired in
2005 from his position as president for real estate at Ingles Markets.
Later, he served briefly on the state lottery commission, but stepped
down because of a possible conflict of interest due to his ties with
Ingles.
Convicted kidnapper, rapist
gets 97-119 years in prison
A man convicted
of kidnapping a Mission Hospitals employee and raping her at knife
point was sentenced to a minimum of 97 years in prison on March 13.
James McQueen
Buie, 30, was convicted by a jury of first-degree kidnapping,
first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense and armed robbery,
following a seven-day trial.
Police say Buie held the woman captive for nearly 10 hours after the daytime attack, before she escaped and called police.
During the
incident, Buie forced the victim to smoke crack cocaine, which prompted
the jury to find an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes,
officials said.
Based on this and other evidence, Superior Court Judge Mark Powell sentenced Buie to between 97 and 119 years in prison.
The attack took
place about 4:30 p.m. June 28, as the victim was leaving work. She was
approached by Buie in a parking lot across Biltmore Avenue from the
hospital, according to police.
He approached her with a knife and forced his way into the driverís seat of her car, officials said.
Buie then drove
around for several hours, at one point stopping to get money out of the
victimís bank account from an automated teller machine, which he used
to buy crack cocaine at a public housing complex, according to court
testimony.
He then
reportedly drove the woman to a wooded area off Airport Road, where he
smoked crack, forced her to smoke crack and raped her.
About 2:30 the next morning, the man drove her to another apartment complex, where she managed to escape.
She reportedly gave authorities a detailed description of the attacker and police arrested Buie that same morning.
Buie, who has no known permanent address, was released from prison May 13, 2006, after a seven-month sentence for embezzlement.
9 arrested on drug charges
during concert by ëRatDogí
The Asheville
Police Department arrested nine people on drug charges last Friday
night during a concert by the band RatDog at the Thomas Wolfe
Auditorium.
Police also
seized 170 hits, or doses, of LSD and $1,168 in cash at the concert
featuring former Grateful Dead cofounder Bob Weir.
Police charged Robert Jeremiah Lairy, 29, with three counts of trafficking LSD.
In addition, six
people were charged with possession of a controlled substance and
possession of drug paraphernalia, including Clarence David Mebane, 23;
Joshua Daniel Markey, 29; Jay William Bice, 43; Marshall Allen Mason,
23; Christopher A. Sims, 35; and Rachel Margaret Shanks, 27.
Police also
charged Karl F. Kohler, 30, with disorderly conduct and Anthony Dakota
Gatrell, 26, with felony marijuana possession and resisting arrest.
Furthermore, Gatrell was served an outstanding warrant from Ohio.
Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower attended the show for about 15 minutes, in order to observe drug activity.
He later
expressed shock at the drug use he said he witnessed during the show,
complaining in an e-mail that the venue ìsmelled like an Amsterdam has
bar.î
Mumpower, who
has been waging a public campaign to raise awareness about drug dealing
in the cityís public housing projects, said he obtained a free pass to
the show after Civic Center staff approached him with concerns about
drug use during concerts there.
In the e-mail,
which he sent to City Manager Gary Jackson and local media outlets,
Mumpower claimed that at one point in the bathroom, he ìobserved a
gentleman purchase pills and ingest same from another gentleman with a
T-shirt that said something like, ëI play for mushrooms.íî He also
claimed to observe ìjointsî being smoked and shared.
On a lighter note, Mumpower wrote, ìThe music ëRatdogí (sic) was good.î
Police Chief
Bill Hogan reported that city police make special efforts to crack down
on concerts at the Civic Center that they believe will attract drug
users.
Most arrests,
however, take place outside the centerís auditorium, he noted, because
of the challenges of navigating through a tight crowd.
He also said that LSD is unusual in Asheville, except at concerts.
City police charge suspect
in 2 shootings last month
Asheville police on March 13 arrested a man whom they say shot two people in a 24-hour period last month.
Police had been
searching for James Antonio Wilson, 18, since a Feb. 19 incident in
which they say he shot a man over a scooter accident.
On March 8,
investigators issued a second warrant for his arrest related to an
incident on Feb. 20, in which police say Wilson shot another man over
claims that Wilson was gay.
Police believe
that they almost caught him on March 10, when they stopped a vehicle in
Hillcrest with three people in it, following reports of gunfire. One of
those passengers ran away, who police suspect may have been Wilson, a
resident of the Hillcrest apartment complex.
He was
identified from a photo lineup by Jeffrey Allen Cornett Sr., who was
shot twice in the leg in the first of the two incidents.
That shooting
took place after Stephon Alexander Palmer, 17, reportedly got in a
fight with Cornett over a scooter crash and prompted Wilson to shoot
him.
Because of his
alleged involvement in that incident, Morgan faces charges of assault
with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or cause serious injury, as
well as communicating threats.
The second
victim, Derrick Devan Morgan Jr., had reportedly claimed to be in a
romantic relationship with Wilson. The latter heard about those claims
from his girlfriend, proceeded to come out of his apartment and started
shooting at Morgan and another man, according to police. One bullet hit
Morgan in the groin.
Now Wilson has
been additionally charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent
to cause serious injury related to that shooting.
He was also
arrested on prior felony charges of drug possession and distribution.
He was being held in lieu of a $110,000 bond at the Buncombe County
jail.
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