Court Proceedings

Adult man charged with stalking teen (11/18/09)
A Lewisburg man who was arrested nine months ago on charges of soliciting and stalking a minor was indicted by Bedford County grand jury Monday. According to public records at Bedford County Sheriff's Department, Andy Lynn Wallace, 35, of Nashville Highway was arrested shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and was also charged with driving under the influence in addition to the two other charges...

Pre-trial hearing held for rape, kidnapping suspect (11/18/09)
With only a request for interview transcripts from his attorney, a Tullahoma man who faces rape and kidnapping charges briefly appeared for a pre-trial hearing on Monday. James Lynne Stewart, 51, is scheduled to stand trial on Dec. 8 and 9 on charges of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, aggravated assault and theft over $500 in connection with an alleged incident in 2002...

Long prison sentence awaits child rapist (11/17/09)
David Wayne Phillips, 43, will spend the next 25 years behind bars after pleading guilty to a number of sexually related charges on Monday. Phillips pleaded guilty to rape of a child, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and five violations of the sex offender registry and will serve the entire 25-year sentence...

Ex-minister admits embezzlement, faces 9-month term (11/17/09)
A former youth minister will spend the next nine months in jail after pleading guilty to theft charges on Monday. William Charles Lohn appeared before Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler and entered a plea of guilty to theft over $60,000. Lohn was indicted in August after members of Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church contacted authorities with information that the former youth minister embezzled over $80,000 from church coffers...

Judge grants Tucker probation (11/17/09)
James Chadwick Tucker, who admitted being the ringleader of a local gambling operation, was sentenced to three and a half years of probation in federal court on Friday. Appearing in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Chattanooga before Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr., Tucker received the sentence of 42 months probation, a fine of $3,000 and a special assessment of $100, according to courtroom deputy Pam Scott...

Sentencing delayed for James Chad Tucker (11/10/09)
Christina Tucker was sentenced to two years probation in federal court Monday for her role in running an illegal high-stakes poker game here last year. Sentencing has been delayed for her husband, James Chadwick Tucker, until Friday after a continuance request from defense attorney Peter Strianse was granted...

Cobb completes state leadership program (11/08/09)
Bedford County Clerk and Master Curt Cobb is one of 16 local government leaders who successfully completed the 17th annual Local Government Leadership Program last month at the Jimmy Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership, part of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service...

City loses appeal of zoning lawsuit (11/06/09)
The city of Shelbyville has lost an appeal with a local paving company who claimed the city did not give adequate notice of a change in zoning laws they say impacted their property. But the impact of the court ruling may be moot since the city will likely pass an identical ordinance next week after the appeals court declared the old one invalid...

Gambling house workers receive jail sentences (11/06/09)
Despite pleas for leniency, two men convicted of helping to run an illegal poker house in Shelbyville last year will spend the next 45 days in jail and the rest of a 18-month sentence on probation. Andrew Welsh Craze and Samuel Cory Owens were found guilty in September of one count each of aggravated gambling promotion, a class E felony, and on Thursday, Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell handed down their punishment...

Home invaders face 25-year prison terms (10/29/09)
Two men who broke into a Shelbyville home and held three children at gunpoint will be spending the next 25 years behind bars following a pair of sentencing hearings this week. The lengthy sentences were handed down against Jose Gomez and Wilson Palacio of Smyrna on Monday...

Former ER worker arrested on rape charges in Alabama (10/23/09)
Harriet Neiman believes that if justice had been served in Bedford County 15 years ago, certain children might not have been abused in Alabama last year. Neiman is the mother of the teenage boy Dr. Michael Roy Sharpe allegedly slapped in the Bedford County Medical Center emergency room on Dec. 20, 1994...

Child rape suspect ruled incompetent to stand trial (10/22/09)
A Shelbyville man accused of sexual acts against a young girl last year will not see a courtroom, it was ruled Friday. J.W. Frazier, 79, of Carney Street, has been committed to Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute in Nashville. "We had sent him for mental evaluations and the doctors ruled him incompetent to stand trial," according to assistant district attorney Richard Cawley. "He's a danger to himself and others."...

Physician suggests local drug court (10/21/09)
Dr. Joseph Rupard suggested to Bedford County Board of Commissioners' law enforcement committee on Tuesday that the county consider starting a drug court, a judicial initiative that diverts some drug-related offenders from jail or prison into a court-supervised rehab program...

Parker won't seek to question jury after all (10/02/09)
A man who asked that the jury in his trial be questioned has withdrawn that petition. Instead, Marvin Bobby Parker will have his motion for a new trial on Oct. 16. Parker had been found guilty of assault charges in connection with a incident at Duck River Speedway in 2008 in May...

Poker dealers found guilty (10/01/09)
A Bedford County jury found two men guilty Tuesday of helping to run an illegal poker house in Shelbyville last year. Andrew Welsh Craze and Samuel Cory Owens were both charged with one count each of aggravated gambling promotion, a class E felony, and will be sentenced Nov. 5 by Circuit Court Judge Lee Russell...

Jury selection begins in gaming trial (09/29/09)
Jury selection got underway Monday in the trial of two men who were allegedly involved in the operation of a gaming house that was raided last year. Andrew Welsh Craze and Samuel Cory Owen are facing one count each of aggravated gambling promotion -- a class E felony...

Shelbyville man accused in sex abuse incidents (09/27/09)
A Shelbyville man is being held under $100,000 bond after being arrested on serious charges of a sexual nature against a child. Joe Jernigan, 61, of Richland Drive has been charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Jernigan allegedly had "unlawful sexual contact with a juvenile female that was 11 years of age," according to warrants filed by Detective Carol Jean of the Shelbyville Police Department...

Officals try to protect public from worst traffic offenders (09/27/09)
"Why is this guy still driving around?" "Can't they put a stop to these people before they kill someone?" These are examples of comments left by concerned readers of the Times-Gazette Web site whenever a story about a person with a long list of driving offenses is published...

Church embezzlement suspect faces court date (09/23/09)
Oct. 26 is the next court date for a former youth minister accused of taking $73,000 from a Shelbyville church. William Charles Lohn appeared briefly with Murfreesboro attorney John Taylor in Bedford County Circuit Court Monday to have his case continued until next month...

Ritch sentencing date set for January (09/23/09)
Jan. 4 is the date when real estate developer Roger Ritch will learn what his punishment will be after he pleaded guilty in federal court in Chattanooga Monday to his involvement in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Ritch along with William McMahan, Jonathan Henderson and Carrie Snow, was charged in May with bank fraud and money laundering in a scheme involving hundreds of homes in Shelbyville...

Trial dates set for kidnapping suspect (09/23/09)
Several people with matters in Bedford County Circuit Court had trial dates set or had their cases continued on Monday. Trial dates for a Tullahoma man accused of kidnapping and other charges have been set. James Lynne Stewart, 51, goes to trial on Dec. 8 and 9 on charges of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, aggravated assault and theft over $500 in connection with an alleged incident in 2002...

Gunman admits 'showing' weapon (09/22/09)
The man who held three children at gunpoint during a January home invasion in Shelbyville pleaded guilty Monday, just days after his partner-in-crime was found guilty by a Bedford County jury. Wilson Palacio will learn on Oct. 26 what his sentence will be after he admitted he was guilty of three counts of aggravated robbery and a single count of aggravated burglary...

Gomez found guilty of robbing children at gunpoint (09/18/09)
A jury swiftly found a Smyrna man guilty Thursday after three Shelbyville children testified about the men who robbed them at gunpoint during a home invasion earlier this year. It took less than 30 minutes for the jury to convict Jos� Gomez on a single count of aggravated burglary and three counts of aggravated robbery...

Plea deadline set in eBay case (09/08/09)
Two people accused of selling stolen items on eBay have until Oct. 1 to decide if they want to make a plea or go before a jury. Meanwhile, one of the defendants in the alleged thefts was sentenced on drug related charges. Troy Neal, 31, of Shelbyville and Kerri Neal, 36, of Murfreesboro have been accused of lifting thousands of dollars worth of weight loss and make-up items from the shelves of area Walmarts and selling them on the popular Internet auction site...

Final fraud suspect will plead guilty (09/03/09)
The final defendant accused of a bank fraud and money laundering conspiracy in Bedford County has filed notice of his intent to plead guilty. Meanwhile, a Shelbyville man who intends to enter his own guilty plea has had a hearing date set. Jonathon B. Henderson gave notice Tuesday of his decision to plead guilty to counts one and four of the federal indictment that was handed down against him and three others in May...

Foster mother accused of statutory rape (05/03/08)
A Shelbyville foster mother has been indicted by the Bedford County grand jury for allegedly having sex with a foster child she had access to. Alea Rhea Rippy, 25, has been charged with eight counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, according to true bills issued by the grand jury on April 21...

Patel sentenced for tax evasion (05/03/08)
A Shelbyville businessman will spend less than a year in federal prison after he pled guilty to income tax evasion earlier this year. Dharmendra B. Patel, 41, of Shelbyville was sentenced Thursday in Chattnooga by U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier to serve nine months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release...

Riddle pleads 'not guilty' in Floyd murder (04/28/08)
LYNCHBURG -- A Moore County grand jury indicted a Tullahoma man on charges of first degree murder Friday in the stabbing death of a young Wartrace man. Jacob Wayne "Jake" Riddle entered a plea of not guilty of murdering 20-year-old Joseph Timothy Floyd of Wartrace...

Murder suspect bound over to Grand Jury (04/23/08)
LYNCHBURG -- A Tullahoma man has been bound over to the Moore County grand jury, who will decide if first degree murder charges are warranted for the stabbing death of a Wartrace man. Jacob Wayne "Jake" Riddle of Tullahoma has been charged with criminal homicide in connection with the death of 20-year-old Joseph Timothy Floyd, who was fatally stabbed in the early morning hours of Feb. 2 at a party in the Lost Creek area of Moore County near Tims Ford Lake...

Timely phone call led to grand jury action (03/24/08)
Bedford County's grand jury has indicted a Shelbyville man on theft and traffic charges arising from a December incident that culminated with his arrest at about the time police were interviewing the complainant. With a suspect in custody, an observant officer noticed his prisoner had a cell phone, so he had a fellow officer call the victim's number. The cell phone found on the suspect began to ring, according to police reports...

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