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Tuesday, 03 April 2007 14:17 |
Retired Woodfin police chief
sentenced for beating wife
Former Woodfin Police Chief Pete Bradley was sentenced to 30 days in jail last Thursday for beating his wife prior to her apparent suicide.
Bradley previously had been convicted by a District Court of assault on a female, but he appealed the conviction to Superior Court. That court upheld the conviction following a trial last week.
Family members of Patsy Bradley said that Pete Bradley kept her isolated and abused, but she chose to stay with him anyway.
According to court testimony, Bradley struck his wife in the head the morning of Aug. 31, 2005, leaving a golf-ball-sized welt on her head. Neighbors reportedly found her scared and crying in her car and called police.
Hospital workers said that she told them he had hit her with a flashlight, according to court testimony.
She was found dead a month later. A medical examiner said that her death was self-inflicted, brought on by depression and domestic turmoil.
Ex-Fletcher police officer
not on employment records
FLETCHER ó A former police officer who had accused Fletcher Police Chief Langdon Raymond of assaulting him now claims that the town has failed to report his employment history, thus inhibiting his ability to receive unemployment insurance benefits.
Timothy Foxx was fired by town officials March 16 after a special prosecuter dismissed misdemeanor assault charges against Raymond.
The prosecutor also cleared the chief of a simple-assault charge that had been filed by former officer Adam White, who had claimed that Raymond searched him against his will and took personal property from him.
Raymond was reinstated as chief on Feb. 26. Foxx had accused the chief of shoving him and grabbing his genitals on Oct. 12.
After applying for benefits with the Employment Security Commission, both Foxx and former officer Jeff Medley learned that the agency had no record of their having worked for the town.
Town Manager Mark Bieberdorf noted that the town is not required to make unemployment insurance payments, which the ESC confirmed.
However, the town is required by law to report its employees and their earnings quarterly.
Commission records show no record of Foxx working for the town or anywhere else in 2006.
Foxx had been placed on paid suspension since he filed the charges, but was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing that took place over the phone.
Foxx was reportedly at an auto mechanic shop where his car was being repaired when he received the phone call from Bieberdorf.
John Midgette, executive director of the N.C. Police Benevolent Association, reportedly disputed the legitimacy of that hearing because it did not take place in person.
Meanwhile, Foxx has challenged the legality of his firing, requesting a review by an independent party.
In response, Fletcher officials have reportedly arranged for the Hendersonville town manager and police chief to review the case.
However, Fletcher Mayor Bill Moore later said that he knew of no violations on Bieberdorfís part.
Medly said that he also was told that the commission had no record of his employment with the town.
A subsequent audit of Fletcherís employment files by the Hendersonville employment commission office confirmed that the town had failed to report Medleyís employment there.
Medley reportedly managed to live by withdrawing money from his retirement fund until he could start receiving his weekly checks. He now is employed at the Henderson County Sheriffís office.
Two men charged in theft
of purse, check forgery
Asheville police arrested two men on March 26 who they say stole a womanís purse and passed forged checks.
Richard McKinley Redmond, 59, of Dock Branch Road in Barnardsville was charged with forgery, passing forged checks and theft from a person.
The second man, Mark Gwynn OíSullivan, 35, of Mountain Air Drive in Candler was charged with theft of a financial card and with aiding and abetting the forgery.
The men are accused of stealing the womanís handbag on March 20, as well as a cell phone and financial card.
Redmond was being held in lieu of a $30,000 bond, while OíSullivan was placed under a $1,000 bond.
In other action March 26, police arrested:
ï Jamie Todd Craig, 26, on charges of violating the conditions of his probation, failing to appear in court and failing to register as a sex offender after changing his address.
Craig, a resident of Parker Drive in Candler, is accused of failing to notify authorities when he was evicted from his former residence.
He was being held in lieu of a $112,500 bond.
ï Glen Dale Lincoln, 36, on a fugitive warrant issued by Woodfin Police.
He was charged with probation violation in Wisconsin. Lincoln was being held in lieu of a $30,000 bond.
Art museum bookkeeper
charged with taking $211K
A former bookkeeper at the Asheville Art Museum was arrested March 13 on charges that she embezzled $210,996 over three years by writing checks to herself.
Police and museum officials claim that Beverly Ayers Wyatt, 54, understated earnings from admission fees and catalog sales from December 2003 to November 2006 and kept the difference. She now faces four embezzlement charges.
The alleged thefts were uncovered after Wyatt was fired last November for poor work performance, according to Executive Director Pam Myers.
Myers, who has operated the museum under a tight budget, received a unanimous vote of confidence from the AAM board two months ago.
The museumís operating budget was $1.3 million in 2006 and it has drawn more than a million visitors in the past five years.
Meanwhile, Wyatt was released without bond. The Fletcher resident has no prior criminal record, a spokesman for the Asheville Police Department said.
Man found dead after fall
from hill near Tunnel Road
A Cherokee native, whose body was found March 17, died as a result of falling from a mountainside, according to police.
Officials say Laranzo Wilmoty, 40, fell to his death behind the former Wal-Mart on Tunnel Road in Asheville. The location was a popular spot for homeless people to camp, police noted.
Fire at Cliffs building site
was arson, fire officials say
SWANNANOA ó A brush fire that blackened two acres of a controversial subdivision development on March 13 was intentionally set, investigators have concluded.
No houses have yet been constructed at the future site of The Cliffs, but the flames caused some damage to sewer pipes and mulch, according to Swannanoa Fire Chief Anthony Penland.
The development has been publicly criticized by neighbors about its size and concerns over environmental issues.
Investigators have not questioned any suspects yet, said David Amaral of the N.C. Division of Forest Resources.
New anti-graffiti task force
charges another teenager
The Asheville Police Departmentís recently created anti-graffiti task force arrested another person last week, 18-year-old John Baxter Harrill.
The Fairview resident was arrested after a search of his home, during which police found markers, graffiti templates and photographs of graffiti, according an APD spokesman.
He has been charged with five counts of damage to real property in the downtown Asheville area. Police say he is responsible for a particular graffiti ìsignatureî that has become common downtown.
City police looking for pair
accused of pickpocketing
Asheville police said last week that they are on the lookout for two people who they say have been pickpocketing elderly people along Tunnel Road.
Five people have had belongings stolen in the last several weeks by a man and a woman who have been taking money, credit cards and other items from purses and pockets, police said.
So far, several thousand dollars in fraudulant credit card charges have resulted.
Typically, the woman of the pair engages an older woman in conversation while the man steals the desired items, police noted.
Anyone with information about crimes can contact Det. Tony Johnson at 259-5929.
Police charge 2 in thefts
of vehicle, rental property
A Swanannona man was charged Thursday with possessing an allegedly stolen vehicle. Jonathan Alexander Love, 33, was being held on a $2,000 bond, according to reports.
Also on Thursday, Asheville resident Angela Slette Fields, 37, was arrested for failure to return rental property, cashing a worthless check and two counts of probation violation.
Fugitives from out-of-state crimes caught in Asheville
Police in Asheville arrested three men recently for allegedly fleeing burglary charges in other states. The cases were unrelated.
Keith Joseph Brough, 26, was arrested on Thursday on a fugitive warrant from Albany County, New York. He was held in the Buncombe County jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
Last Saturday, police arrested Davidson Drive resident Joseph Deonmte McAlphin, 19, on charges of fleeing a burglary charge in Ohio. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.
Also last Saturday, Barry Thomas Jones, 38, was arrested on a fugitive warrant from Knoxville, Tenn. Jones is alleged to have stolen a 2001 Ford F-150 valued at $15,000. His bond was set at $50,000.
Man charged with holding marijuana on jail premises
ASHEVILLE ó Police arrested Mark Timothy Anderson, 18, on Saturday for allegedly possessing marijuana on jail premises. Bond for the resident of Davidson Drive was set at $1,500.
Candler woman arrested
on drug, school charges
ASHEVILLE ó Police arrested a Candler Knob Road resident on Thursday on two counts of school-attendance-law violation and failing to appear in court on prior school-attendance violations.
Tammy Elizabeth Black, 30, was also charged with possession of under one gram of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Asheville police charge man
with trespassing, resisting
Asheville police charged William Terry Falls, 40, with trespassing and resisting arrest on Saturday. The resident of Wilbur Avenue is being held on $1,200 bond.
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