Hooper does, however, rule that the bar is a public nuisance and issues an injunction against its owner. Vassar and 32-year-old James Mark Thornton of Newport on charges of conspiring to . "I'd especially like to say I am sorry to all the citizens of Cocke County," he says. While on bond, he finds himself embroiled in a controversy in Knox County after entering into an agreement with Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison and the sheriff's legal advisor, Mike Ruble, to use Walker's airstrip on Mascot Road for the agency's fleet of helicopters. During the civil trial, Bacon notes that O'Dell was a deputy under Stinson and claims he was "trying to straighten up those joints." A North Carolinian by birth, Mr. Sutton learned to distill in Cocke County, where he was known as an affable rogue and a maker of potent but fine-tasting corn whiskey. Federal court records also indicate that agents from the FBI, TBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been converging on Grooms during a period of at least six years. Webb is one of at least six people who have opted to fight their misdemeanor cockfighting-related charges in court, according to one of his attorneys, Joe Baker. TBI Special Agent Bob Denney, right, helps four prostitutes out of a van and into the Tennessee Highway Patrol post in Newport immediately following a pair of Dec. 16 undercover operations at two popular Cocke County nightspots. The bartender is the only person cited because she was the one who was there when it happened, Shults says. It became a cult hit, leading to newspaper features, occasional meetings with celebrities and a high-profile role in a 2007 History Channel documentary. Aug. 15: Derrick Cureton pleads guilty in federal court to attempted money laundering and resigns from the sheriff's department. He is apparently working alongside Moonshiners stars and is busy in producing this seasons brews. He said, You cant sell it if nobody knows you got it. I dont know whether he had a point or not.. After the crack cocaine delivery, Dodgin and the informant drive to Atlanta to smuggle $80,000 in cash that Dodgin thinks is drug money. Bredesen also becomes the first Democratic candidate to win Cocke County since 1990, having received 4,219 votes compared to Van Hilleary's 4,114. Informants and undercover FBI agents visit the pit numerous times over the next 14 months. ", The only witness called by Black is FBI Agent Thomas Farrow, who says that Black was questioned because "he has very specific knowledge of the corruption and his assistance would have been helpful," but the deputy refused to cooperate. The Moonshine Rod Run is one of the most successful car shows in the Southeastern United States attracting more than 500 Collector, Classic, and Muscle Cars and Trucks. Sheldon also argues for the suppression of taped conversations involving her client, saying that some of the discussions were recorded after Black had been charged and he had retained her services. Sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles and cover with shredded cheese. March 26: Mike Gunter's remaining two attorneys, Tom Testerman and Phil Owens, file notice that they wish to be removed from his pending criminal case because Moncier has been disqualified. On the other hand, the report noted that Shults is known for having a rough tempter. Jan. 4: James Mark Thornton enters into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in which he agrees to cooperate with authorities. (Read the story " Records reveal Del Rio details"), (See the complaints filed in federal court: Document 1, Document 2), June 27: Twenty-nine cockfighting suspects from the Del Rio raid appear in Cocke County General Sessions Court before Judge John Bell. He also says that allowing her to represent her husband might create a conflict of interest. Most plead guilty or "no contest" to spectator charges. An employee, Justin Tamper, later filed an assault charge against Moncier, alleging the attorney elbowed him when Tamper tried to grab back a paper the attorney had snatched from a counter to record a customer service number. He then asks Greer to either suppress the cocaine evidence or release Vassar on bond and postpone his cocaine trials. Until his death in 2009 at the age of 62, Mr. Sutton, known as Popcorn, was a moonshiner. top of page. Former Newport officer Derrick Webb is forced to resign from the Pigeon Forge Police Department following media reports about his involvement in the federal probe. Smith says that Cureton has met with FBI agents "on at least two occasions" and has complied with his bond requirements. Curtis Banks, Bill Banks and Kenny Holt had entered guilty pleas before trial, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Smith. A sentence of over 20 years imprisonment will send a strong message that the days when such criminals could act with impunity in the community are over. ", Citing a presentence report and several letters written on Taylor's behalf, Greer says he believes the apologies to be sincere and describes Taylor as "a follower, not a leader, in this situation." Denton and Nathan are charged with possession for resale of heroin. Except . May 15: Maurice Shults is reinstated to the post of Newport police chief after a successful appeal to the Civil Service Board, which votes 2-1 to end the actions taken against him. The suspects are arrested by FBI agents with assistance from state troopers and the Cocke County Sheriffs Department, marking the first time that local deputies have publicly assisted the FBI during the probe. "(Gamecocks) are like athletes," he said. Has been acquitted of civil rights charges. Lancaster was also described as the person who runs Hilltop Auto for Grooms. May 17: Dodgin meets the undercover agent in the parking lot of the Food City in Newport. June 13: Roger Stinson is acquitted of murder charges by a jury in Cocke County Circuit Court. Example video title will go here for this video. May 22: Derrick Cureton, who is now 21, is sentenced by Judge Greer to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Nov. 23: The attorneys for Sgts. They also say that Dodgin is needed at home to care for ailing relatives. As agents from the FBI, TBI and other agencies fan out across Cocke and Jefferson counties, search warrants are executed at the homes of Mike Gunter and Bill Banks as well as two garages at Banks' business in Dandridge, Banks' Auto Sales. ", Also in Greeneville, Sgts. Grooms, who allegedly worked as a dealer, is charged with one count of gambling promotion, a misdemeanor. Aug. 17: U.S. Magistrate Judge Inman orders Michael Vassar to be held in custody pending trial. I'll probably have to move. Agents hope to uncover evidence of an illegal gambling enterprise that revolves around video poker machines in bars, convenience stores and restaurants as well as cockfighting. Feb. 25: TBI agents execute a search warrant at Mickey Lovell's home in an effort to seize illegal gambling devices and confiscate the 11 video machines. July 13: The U.S. Forest Service, FBI and Tennessee Highway Patrol's Criminal Investigations Division raid Shoemaker's Florist and Greenhouse, 132 East Broadway, Newport. May 19: Judge Inman authorizes the FBI to continue tracking the mini-van used by Jarrod Taylor for another 60 days. Assistant U.S. Attorney Smith concedes that one of the alleged victims admitted using someone else's identification to get a job. But the bad old image of Cocke County lingers. "We continue to feel it's the appropriate thing to do, to return any contributions of anyone whose name is part of this ongoing investigation. Their attorneys argue that they haven't been convicted of any crimes and indicate the evidence against the officers may turn out to be weak. Kimbrough, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, is working secretly for the FBI at the request of the THP's Criminal Investigations Division. Your attorney is asking me to compare apples to oranges to the extent the government's plea bargaining decisions result in (sentencing) disparities, it seems to me, that's up to Congress and the public to address.". Sheldon and Roach have shown nothing to support "an allegation of sinister secret-police type tactics" or their motions to dismiss the indictment. He has great bedside manner and made me feel at ease. (View the plea agreements for: Jarrod M. Taylor and Patrick Allen Taylor. Vassar has been a member of the Del Rio Eagles club since 1998, when Raymond Hawk was manager and the aerie was in Newport. Aug. 2: Sevierville lawyer and former FBI agent Al Schmutzer Jr. is elected district attorney general. He dressed the part and he talked the talk. Mr. Suttons beard and profanity were equally effusive. The victory was not an easy one for Bredesen, whose campaign set a political spending record for Tennessee: more than $10 million, including $3 million from the wealthy candidate's own pocket. As George Bernard Shaw said, 'I learned long ago to never wrestle with a pig. 1,965 sqft (on 0.32 acres) 3099 Bridgewater Blvd, Morristown, TN 37814. Moonshiners Chico 2023 Updates, Where Is Chico Moonshiners Now? The owners of the flower shop are Thomas Grant Williams' in-laws. Reduce heat and simmer until tortillini is tender. Listing for: EXIT Realty Springside . During closing arguments, the race of the alleged victims takes center stage as the officers' attorneys seek to discredit the mens' testimony by pointing out the numerous illegal activities they have engaged in by sneaking into the United States, securing fake documentation for employment and other acts of dishonesty. There's no fault to be placed on the government.". Farrow provides the following account of the elements of the Rose Thorn probe that have focused on Taylor: Farrow never mentions D.C. Ramsey or Harold Grooms as being part of any criminal conspiracies involving Taylor. Smith notes that the law would allow for Taylor to be sentenced only to probation but argues that "because of Taylor's involvement not only in trafficking of stolen property but also his long-time involvement in an illegal gambling business, a sentence of straight' probation would not an appropriate or reasonable sentence.". Don't trust anyone. The officers find a back room partitioned off with a curtain, and inside the room they find people playing four video gambling machines. Physicians & Surgeons Physicians & Surgeons, Anesthesiology (423) 581-5987. Popcorn Said it begins, and the rest is unfit to print. In 1998, longtime Sheriff Tunney Moore decides it's time to step down from office and a political free-for-all erupts. He is serving a three-year term of federal probation. Photo Credit: Joe Swift/MileSplit. March 30: Dodgin meets with the undercover FBI agent and another man in Newport. Sheldon and Roach but will not be given their addresses or phone numbers. Interstate 75 (I-75) in the US state of Tennessee runs from Chattanooga to Jellico by way of Knoxville.I-75 enters the East Tennessee region from Georgia, following the Tennessee Valley all the way through Knoxville to near Rocky Top, then climbs into the Cumberland Mountains before crossing over into Kentucky at Jellico.. Of the six states that I-75 traverses, the segment in Tennessee is the . After reviewing Roach's report, Shults says: "I don't see anything that indicates to me that he did anything other than write an accident report based on what he was told at the scene. Former Cocke County Deputy John Wayne "Johnny" Black. March 21: As part of the investigation stemming from Holdways shooting, the TBI executes a search warrant at a property on Sugar Hollow Road in the west part of Hamblen County and seizes about $101,000 in cash from a house. Ramsey later goes to work at the Newport Police Department as a patrolman and remains there until 1998. He also notes that a federal judge ruled in 1992 that Vassar had obstructed justice by threatening to kill a witness. Judge Greer, however, is quick to counter that theres nothing illegal or improper with the deal-making process. Smith and Moncier are at odds over a number of issues and are unable even to agree on what crime Vassar was convicted of. As planned, the confidential informant travels to Bank's place of employment, Bush's Canning factory in Chestnut Hill, where Banks works as a security guard. Economic development initiatives are starting to make an impact, as are growing numbers of people moving to the community from other states. April 18: Robert Holdway dies from the gunshot wound he suffered March 15. Now you get me out of this mess, you know what I'm saying?' "Notice is also given that the court may consider an order prohibiting interviews with jurors or publication of news articles that report on the internal deliberative processes of the prior jury as necessary to protect the constitutional rights of the defendants to a fair trial," writes Greer, who also blocks Roach's attempt to interview the jurors in a separate order. The caller was a relative of Grooms who was "trying to find out if he was going to testify before the grand jury," and the bogus jailing was developed so Keeton could go back to Grooms and say: "I wouldn't tell them anything and they put me in jail over it." Feb. 21: Authorities destroy 25 video poker or video slot machines, 84 tip boards, a quantity of drugs, 54 bottles of liquor and 11 quarts of moonshine that were seized from Cocke County taverns the previous October. Dodgin later arranges for a tractor-trailer containing purportedly stolen goods to be temporarily stored in a Newport restaurant's parking lot. Oct. 6: Cocke County Sheriff's Department Sgt. The arresting officers find stolen auto parts in his pickup truck and charge him with aggravated assault for allegedly running a roadblock that had been set up to catch him. A search of two self-storage units rented by Phillips uncovered a safe hidden inside a stove, and inside the safe was 11 kilograms of cocaine and $32,000, according to FBI Agent Kevin S. Keithley. Stinson is listed as a witness for O'Dell in the suit but doesn't testify because he is incarcerated. Jarrod Taylor, who is the nephew of Sheriff Ramsey and the brother of Chief Deputy Taylor, was still an employee of Newport Games when he applied to renew his liquor license through West End Package in late 2004 but his wife, Andrea, later tells The News Sentinel that he quit the gaming company shortly afterward. In the letter, Vassar asked McCarter to "tell Pat" that "Jeremy Jones is talking about him. April 5: Just before the second trial of Sgts. "Any conduct that could be construed as retaliatory will be viewed as a violation of federal law," the judge says. Prior to Stacey Phillips agreeing to cooperate with law enforcement agents on August 30, 2005, Phillips co-conspirators, specifically Thornton and Shults, had already informed law enforcement agents that they had obtained between 5 and 15 kilograms of cocaine from Phillips in 2003, records say. One stop was in Dayton, Ohio, where many Cocke Countians have gone in the past to find employment.". Finding . Before he is loaded into a medical evacuation helicopter, he tells sheriffs department investigator Robert Caldwell that he was shot by someone but is unable to identify his assailant. May 2: Retired state trooper Claude Strange defeats Billy Wayne Moore in the Republican primary race for sheriff. They seize more than $40,000 in cash, issue criminal citations to 143 people and euthanize 300-plus roosters. Mark says that he used to carefully watch his mother, Carolyn Cookie Ramsey, as she cooked. Former Deputy Larry Joe Dodgin is sentenced to 8 years in federal prison to be followed by four years of supervised release. June 8: Stacey Lynn Phillips pleads guilty in federal court to cocaine trafficking. Many of the businesses are allegedly tied to organized crime groups in Ohio and St. Louis, Mo. "I personally have a problem with the federal government coming in and overseeing what the states do" about cockfighting, Davis says. In addition to cockfights and illegal betting on the matches, the informant sees a high-stakes card game and a concession stand that employs several women selling beer. Some of the bar operators told state authorities that they had been warned to buy their liquor from West End Package Store in Newport or face the prospect of being raided by the sheriff's department. Defense attorney David Hill, however, counters that the allegations are big talk for a prosecutor with no proof to back it up. Feb. 9: Judge Greer declares a mistrial in the case of Roach and Sheldon after jurors indicate they are "hopelessly deadlocked." Sheldon had contended he was fired "based upon their desire to have a less qualified, less experienced and less competent individual working as jail administrator." Greer also informs Roachs attorneys that he wont allow race-baiting during the sergeants retrial. Thornton who has several previous cocaine trafficking convictions could face up to life in prison and $8 million in fines. Smith concedes that one of the THP 's Criminal Investigations Division received 4,219 votes compared to Hilleary... 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