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Bristol, Tenn. man arrested for allegedly stealing from teacher on field trip www.privateofficer.com
Virginia bounty hunter shot to death www.privateofficer.com
BRISTOL, Tenn. Aug 12 2012
Mike Henegar prayed that the guy on the ground was still alive.
Moments earlier, a pair of gunshots pierced the dull silence of midnight at Brookside Estates mobile home park off of U.S. Highway 421.
Henegar stepped outside and a woman begged to use his cell phone. She dialed 911 but was too hysterical to talk.
That’s when the emergency dispatcher on the line said someone had to check for a pulse. Someone had to see if the man on the ground was still alive.
The man stared unblinking at the sky, his legs twisted, his arms spread in opposite directions with a pistol still clutched in one hand.
“I agreed to do it,” Henegar said of carrying out the dispatcher’s directive. “There was no pulse.”
Bounty hunter Joshua Scott Horne, 32, of Bristol, Tenn., died early Friday of a single shot from his own gun while trying to arrest the wrong person.
Witnesses said Horne ran up to his target, aimed his pistol and yelled that the guy was under arrest. Bristol Tennessee Police said the two men struggled over the weapon and multiple shots were fired.
Police said they are still piecing together the struggle and will let the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office make the call on whether to file charges. Investigators have not named the second person involved in the shooting.
“There’s too many unanswered questions at this point to make a decision on charges,” Capt. Charlie Thomas said.
A private, home-surveillance video obtained by the Bristol Herald Courier shows a pickup truck driving along the mobile home park’s Madeline Drive just minutes after midnight and vanishing from view. Seconds later, Horne, wearing shorts, can be seen sprinting after the truck.
Dogs are heard barking. Then there’s yelling from somewhere outside of the camera’s view and the dogs go quiet.
Suddenly, a gunshot erupts.
A resident then walks past the camera and disappears in the direction of the truck and Horne.
There’s more yelling, and then a final gunshot.
One bullet grazed Horne’s target just under his right eye, police report, and he’s since been treated at Bristol Regional Medical Center and released.
Police did not say where Horne was struck. But witness William Wesley Henson, the resident seen walking in the video, said Horne was shot in the chest.
The struggle began in the cab of the pickup truck, Henson said. Both men, their hands still on the pistol, then fell to the ground and rolled to rear of the pickup before stopping partially under the truck bed.
“The other guy [the target] had his finger on the trigger and rolled the gun around and Boom! Right in [Horne’s] chest,” Henson said.
Brookside Estates residents said they know the target only as Dave, and that he lives on disability because of medical problems with his legs.
Horne, a freelance bounty hunter, was hunting a fugitive for Kingsport-based Tri-City Bonding. A company official refused to field a reporter’s queries said he had spoken to investigators and referred all questions to police.
A search of Bristol, Va., court records shows that Horne had felony convictions for credit card theft and probation violations. A search of Sullivan County court records shows a string of traffic violations and an Aug. 5, 2012, arrest on a charge of driving on a revoked license.
Residents said Horne first scoped out the mobile home for several hours while waiting for his target to come home from work. The bounty hunter had an arrest warrant with him and showed a copy of the form to anyone who cared to look.
One resident, who requested anonymity, said that Horne promised no one would get hurt that night and said he didn’t have a gun.
Henson said Horne initially arrived with four other men. But the men left and Horne stayed behind in his car, which was parked in Henson’s driveway.
“I knew somebody was going to get hurt,” Henson said. “It never should have happened.”
Henson and his brother, who lives within yards of where the struggle happened and stepped outside after hearing the shots, tackled Horne’s target. Henson, who was bit in the ensuing fight, used a set of handcuffs he spotted near Horne’s body to shackle and subdue the target.
Surveillance video shows the two brothers handing their suspect over to police.
“I left the weapon up there,” one brother yells. “I’ve got him handcuffed.”
The man in the center, wearing handcuffs, then yells to police: “Hey! I want to talk to somebody.”
A police officer strides into the camera’s view.
“Who shot who?” she asks.
The handcuffed man replies: “He shot me first … in the head.”
Source:tri-cities.com
2 men charged with staging reality TV robbery in Indiana www.privateofficer.com
Police have charged two out-of-state men with robbing two other men in western Pennsylvania by claiming they were recording video for a reality TV show called “You Just Got Robbed.”
Police in Indiana, Pa. tell The Associated Press the incident happened about 1:20 a.m. and that the suspects apparently attend a nearby technical school. They’re identified as 21-year-old Randall Smith, of Templehill, Md. and 18-year-old Artie Goodwine, of Memphis, Tenn.
Police say one of the men put the victims into headlocks while the other recorded the robbery — in which $20 was taken from one of the victims — on a cell phone.
Online court records don’t list attorneys for the men. Smith has posted bail but Goodwine remained in the Indiana County Jail on Monday, about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
source-wpxi.com
Dyersburg police arrest two in failed escape attempt www.privateofficer.com
Dyer County TN June 4 2012 A man and his girlfriend are in the Dyer County Jail facing felony charges after she assisted him in his failed attempt to escape from court bailiffs.
Jonathan Jones, 23, 533 Elm St., Dyersburg, Tenn., was apprehended by Dyersburg Police shortly after he ran from court security after being sentenced by Dyer County Circuit Court Judge Lee Moore.
Jones appeared in Dyer County Circuit Court on Thursday as the defendant in a jury trial in which he was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. The jury returned a guilty verdict and Moore passed sentence on him and ordered him into custody. Jones was handcuffed by bailiffs and was being led to a patrol car to be taken to the Dyer County Jail when he reportedly fled on foot.
Authorities say Jones was soon picked up in a car by his girlfriend, Melanie Parker, 23, 701 Sampson St., Dyersburg, and she dropped him off on Sampson Avenue. Dyersburg Police officers went to a house in the 700 block of Sampson Avenue they believed Jones was at and knocked on the door.
Dyersburg Police Capt. Steve Isbell said when officers knocked on the door, Jones ran out the backdoor where an officer was waiting. A brief struggle ensued with the officer and Jones had to be tased to be subdued. Police then turned Jones over to sheriff’s deputies. Authorities soon found Parker and she too was taken into custody.
Jones was charged with felony escape and Parker was charged with felony facilitation of escape. The couple is being held without bond until their court appearance in Dyer County General Sessions Court on Monday.
Source: Dyersburg State Gazette
Motorcycle shop employee charged in theft of parts www.privateofficer.com
Hometown Honda parts manager Zachary P. Michael, 31, of 2545 Pleasant Ridge Road, Marietta, was arrested Sunday on a charge of fifth-degree felony theft as part of an investigation into allegations of embezzlement and stealing from the business on Pike Street in Marietta.
Also arrested was general manager Rick A. Mattos, 42, of 215 Sturbridge Drive, Franklin, Tenn., on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business.
The scope of the alleged embezzlement and thefts is not known, but Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said more charges are anticipated after an audit by the business is completed.
The investigation began last week after it was reported that Michael had stolen several Harley-Davidson parts and given them to a family member, who was selling the items online, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
A sheriff’s detective found the parts in question on eBay, along with more than 1,000 other motorcycle parts and accessories, the release says. The detective arranged to purchase a new fender and saddlebags from the seller, and once he acquired them Sunday, an employee at Hometown Honda identified the items as coming from the store.
A search warrant was then executed at Michael’s residence.
“We recovered a large amount of items that were taken from the business,” Mincks said. “We recovered 71 at the location. Exactly how many had been taken in the past, we won’t know until we complete an audit of the company’s books.”
Michael was found to be in possession of money with serial numbers matching the bills used in the purchase, the release says.
It is not known whether the family members selling the parts online were aware they were stolen, according to the release.
During the investigation, Mattos allegedly made false statements to detectives, the release says. Mattos, who has a Tennessee address but works at Hometown Honda in Marietta, was arrested Monday morning at the business.
Mincks said the allegations against Mattos and Michael appear to be related, although he declined to go into further detail about the suspected embezzlement.
Both men were arraigned Monday in Marietta Municipal Court. Michael remains in custody at the Washington County Jail on a $5,000 bond, jail officials said. Mattos was released after posting a $1,000 bond.
An employee at Hometown Honda declined to comment on the matter.
Source:news and sentinel
Nursing home patient arrested after 2 state pursuit in stolen vehicle www.privateofficer.com
Washington County TN Oct 4 2011 A nursing home patient is facing a slew of charges after police say he stole a car with a child inside Sunday morning.
Steven K. Thornburg, 47, of Chuckey, Tenn., has been charged with grand larceny, abduction and eluding law enforcement following the incident, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and more charges are pending.
According to the sheriff’s office, it began at the Greendale Home for the Aged in Washington County, where a man had stopped to pick up a patient to bring to church.
In the moments he left his vehicle unattended with his 9-year-old son inside, another nursing home patient allegedly took off in the vehicle, which was next spotted on West Main Street in Abingdon.
By then, the boy had been dropped off by the driver.
Law enforcement officers from the town, county and Virginia State Police pursued the vehicle onto Interstate 81 in a chase that reached 100 miles per hour.
The Sullivan County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Office and Tennessee Highway Patrol picked up the chase at the state line, with Washington County, Tenn., deputies and Kingsport police also assisting in the incident; the vehicle was finally stopped in Tennessee.
Thornburg was taken to a hospital for observation and is being held in the Sullivan County Jail awaiting extradition to Virginia.
Man arrested after holding up K-Mart with greeting card www.privateofficer.com
Police said Davis walked into the Kmart on Madison Street this past weekend and handed a clerk a greeting card on which he wrote that he wanted drugs and would start shooting if anyone said a word.
He escaped before police arrived.
Early Monday morning, police arrested Christopher Davis. They found the 19-year-old hiding in a shed on Gratton Road.
He is being held at the Montgomery County detention center.
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Security guard charged with arson www.privateofficer.com
Clarksville investigators said late Sunday night that someone used a brick to break through a door of the building on Madison Street. The person then set a series of small fires inside with lighter fluid.
Police on Wednesday arrested Thomas Sexton, 19, who was a security guard at the abandoned hospital. Sexton worked a night shift and was the first person to report the fires to police.
Sexton’s employment has been terminated by Integrity International Security after they hired him about a year ago. He has been charged with arson and filing a false police report.
Integrity International Security said it performs criminal background checks on all of its employees.
Company representatives and police said Sexton had a clean record before the incident.
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Father and son charged with trafficking women for sex www.privateofficer.com
Officers arrested Charles and Timothy Lee Thursday morning at the Red Roof Inn on Sidco Drive. Turns out that one of the women asked motel managers to call police.
Three other women with the men were also arrested on drug charges.
Police said they later found the women featured in the erotic services sections of three internet sites.
Both men face several charges including trafficking sexual servitude.
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Pizza deliverman leads police to kidnap victim www.privateofficer.com
Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals said 46-year-old David Jansen abducted the 24-year-old woman while she was jogging in her Atlanta neighborhood on Tuesday.
Seals said Jansen tied the victim to the seat of a rental car and drove her across state lines to a rental cabin in a remote area.
Authorities said when Jansen ordered a pizza at the cabin, the deliveryman saw the victim lying on a couch bound by ropes.
The victim mouthed to the deliveryman to call 911. The deliveryman left and alerted authorities to what he had witnessed.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the victim still tied up on a couch at the cabin.
The victim told authorities that she had been kidnapped from Atlanta and brought to the cabin and raped. She was transported at a hospital.
She told investigators she knows Jansen from work, according to the Mountain Press newspaper of Sieverville, Tenn.
Seals said a search warrant was obtained and detectives entered the cabin and searched it. Seals said detectives found evidence at the scene that substantiated the victim’s story.
Jansen was charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape. He was arraigned before a magistrate, and a $800,000 bond was set. Jansen was being held at the Sevier County Jail Thursday night.
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Tn child,8, found hanging in tree www.privateofficer.com
Police said Alex Cotten, 8, was found hanging from a tree during a fishing incident while his two brothers, foster father — who’s a reserve deputy — and another full-time deputy were with him.
“I just want questions answered, what’s going on, what happened to my son,” said Alex’s biological mother, Christy Kennedy, who has been fighting to regain custody of her three children.
She received news Monday night that her middle child was dead.
“The phone call was (that) he got in a car wreck,” said Kennedy. “And then later on, when I got to the hospital, the foster family told me otherwise.”
Kennedy said the foster family told her Alex was killed in a hay baling incident. A Rutherford County incident report said he disappeared at a pond during a fishing trip after his foster father, Cam Sandstrom, made him go to the barn as punishment for being hyperactive.
The report said Alex’s foster grandfather, Sid Sandstrom, arrived 15 minutes later and found the boy hanging from a tree by baling twine. Now, investigators are wondering if the child killed himself.
“It would be odd for a child that young (to commit suicide), but you never know what motivates a child or what they’re thinking,” said Dan Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department. “It could’ve been an accident. We don’t know. It could’ve been intentional.”
Vickie Cotten, Alex’s biological grandmother, said she’s concerned about the other two boys. DCS said because of the ongoing investigation, the boys are being removed from the house — a routine precaution.
“They weren’t watching,” said Cotten. “Would it have happened if they would’ve been watching him?”
Deputies said the case will be investigated as a homicide until details lead them in a different direction.
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TN police officer charged with rape of child www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann
Private Officer News Network
http://www.privateofficer.com/ - A Hohenwald police officer is off the job after being indicted on a charge of child rape.
Investigators said that 40-year-old officer Earl Taylor surrendered to authorities earlier this week, after the TBI conducted an investigation for almost a month.
Taylor was accused of forcible sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Taylor is reportedly out of jail and has resigned his position as police officer.
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Nashville teacher arrested for producing child porn www.privateofficer.com
newschannel5.com – Metro police have arrested a Murfreesboro teacher at his home Tuesday on federal charges of producing child pornography.
Investigators said 52-year-old Louis J. Levine invited students to his house on Alton Road in west Nashville, where teenagers were given drugs, alcohol and engaged in sexual activities. They said Levine secretly taped the sexual activity. Hundreds of tapes were recovered at the home.
Incidents reportedly went back 30 years.
Levine was a first year science teacher for Murfreesboro City Schools, and placed on administrative leave April 1 after officials learned he was under investigation. He has since been suspended without pay, and his contract will not be renewed for a second year.
District director Marilyn Mathis said Levine went from school to school teaching science. Officials have begun proceedings to terminate his employment with the school system.
He also substituted for Metro Nashville Public Schools for several years. District officials said Levine substituted in their schools just 1 full day and 2 half days during the 2008-2009 school year. He has been removed from the substitute list.
For many years he worked at the Adventure Science Center, formerly the Cumberland Science Museum, as an animal expert and teacher, as well as at several youth camps.
“Lewis Levine was a former employee of the Adventure Science Center who worked here more than 10 years ago,” said center president Susan Duvenhage.
Police began investigating Levine on March 25 after a tip from a parent. Several apparent victims told officials about a building on Levine’s property called “Little House.” They said they would smoke marijuana, take ecstasy, drink alcohol and engage in sex in both the outbuilding and the main house.
An adult male who had visited the home during the late 1970s and early 1980s told police there was a peep hole into the outhouse. He also said Levine would provide pornographic movies for he and other boys to watch.
According to the complaint against Levine, one teenage boy told police that Levine touched him inappropriately on at least one occasion during the summer of 2007.
An adult male told police that Levine had touched him inappropriately when he was a teen in the mid 1980s.
Investigators executed a search warrant on the home on March 31. Inside a padlocked bedroom, they found a home video network of computers, monitors and what officials described as a “significant” amount of video cables running to other parts of the home.
About 400 videotapes and DVDs were found at the home depicting teenagers involved in sexual activity. Those who talked to police said they did not know they were being taped.
Officials said Levine faces federal charges for child pornography because the video equipment was manufactured in Japan. State charges are also expected.
“Crimes against children in violation of federal law are an absolute top priority for the Department of Justice,” said Ed Yarbrough, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Police have asked anyone with information about inappropriate behavior between Levine and minors to call Metro’s Sex Crimes Unit at 862-7540. So far, victims have come forward from both Davidson and Williamson County.
“I want to thank the men and women assigned to the police department’s Sex Crimes Unit for their dedication and commitment to very difficult cases such as this one,” Chief Ronal Serpas said. “Matters involving minors are not easy to investigate.”
According to a police media release, Levine and his wife have been estranged for several years.
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Shelbyville TN teacher arrested for soliciting 13yr old girl www.privateofficer.com
At the time of the arrest, Joshua Smith was out of work and hoping to get a teaching job in another county.
Shelbyville Detective Charles Merlo looks nothing like a 13-year-old girl, but Merlo said Smith didn’t know that when he solicited him online for sex.
He admitted that he knew it was wrong, you know, said he had a problem with chatting,” Merlo said.
Smith talked about being a loving teacher and coach on his MySpace page. He said he has a “passion for teaching and coaching.”
In 2007, he was hired by East Hickman High School to coach baseball and teach physical education. But superintendent Jerry Nash said Smith wasn’t re-hired after a girl’s mother complained about inappropriate e-mails that were being exchanged between Smith and her daughter.
Friday, Smith was arrested at his Murfreesboro home following two days of online conversations with a Shelbyville detective he assumed was a 13-year-old girl.
Police said Smith sent explicit pictures to them and said that he had applied for a teaching position in Bedford County. Smith’s application was on file.
Police said predators are good at blending into the background.
“I’ve arrested not only him but about five other individuals. They range from a Vanderbilt professor to a middle school teacher,” Merlo said.
Smith has had no history of crimes involving minors. He’s been a teacher and a coach and has participated in church events involving children.
“One at a time, of course there’s many out there, but small victories lead to large victories,” said Merlo.
Detectives said Smith liked to move around. He worked in Hickman County, had applied for a teaching position in Bedford County and, according to the minutes of a 2007 school board meeting in Rutherford County, Smith was in line to be a volunteer baseball coach at a school there.
Smith has a 2-year-old daughter. He lists his status as single on his MySpace page.
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Police commander arrested for exposing himself www.privateofficer.com
Police commander arrested for exposing himself http://www.privateofficer.com
John Newman was indicted last week by the Williamson County grand jury.
In December, Newman was driving on Interstate 65 in Brentwood when he allegedly exposed himself to another driver.
That woman got Newman’s plate number and called police
Newman is a commander with Vanderbilt police but wasn’t in uniform at the time.
He is currently on administrative leave.
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BeBe Winans accused of domestic assault www.privateofficer.com
BeBe Winans accused of domestic assault http://www.privateofficer.com
Debra Winans said her former husband BeBe Winans pushed her to the ground in front of their children. The two were married for 16 years before divorcing in 2003.
The alleged assault happened when BeBe Winans showed up at his ex-wife’s Nashville home and the two began arguing about custody issues. Debra and BeBe Winans have a 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
According to an affidavit, what started out as a “verbal altercation” turned into assault when Debra Winans was “pushed to the ground.”
Later, the Grammy-winning Gospel recording artist and judge of the Black Entertainment Television reality show Sunday Best was arrested.
“When you’re married to someone known all over the world, it has serious challenges,” said Debra Winans.
Debra Winans said people of faith are held to an even higher standard, and many Christians suffer through abuse rather than reaching out for help.
Until you realize something’s not changing, you pray all day long. The power of God is real, but one thing he’s not going to do is go against someone’s will. We make choices,” said Debra Winans.
She said she is not afraid of her former husband and hopes by speaking out she will help others.
A spokesman for BeBe Winans said the singer is in Atlanta working as a judge on a BET program. As of Thursday evening, there was no statement from BeBe Winans regarding his ex-wife’s allegations.
Debra Winans said she is working with other abuse victims in hopes of helping them find healthy solutions to their problem.
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