Georgia police investigating Alabama officer in sex crimes
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. – Police in Georgia say a former Alabama prison officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman near Atlanta is also being investigated in connection with a series of assaults.
Sandy Springs police Sgt. Samuel Worsham told news outlets Tuesday that 48-year-old Matthew Moore is believed to be responsible in several assaults spanning a decade. Alabama officials said Moore worked at St. Clair prison near Birmingham since 2001 and quit when he was arrested March 30.
Moore is charged with aggravated sodomy, assault with the intent to commit rape and false imprisonment in Fulton County, Georgia.
The charges stem from an attack reported to authorities in November 2015 that investigators say happened at a Sandy Springs hotel.
Worsham says police anticipate additional charges pending DNA crime lab tests.
Former Atlanta city hall official indicted in bribery probe
ATLANTA – An aide to former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed has been indicted in an ongoing bribery investigation at City Hall.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office told news outlets that a federal grand jury indicted the Rev. Mitzi Bickers on 11 counts Thursday morning. She faces multiple charges including bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns.
Bickers ran the Department of Human Services for three years. Her duties included running city programs to help the homeless and distributing federal and local funding to homeless shelters.
Prosecutors say the bribes totaled more than $2 million.
The city hall investigation has been ongoing for two years. The city’s former chief procurement officer Adam Smith along with city contractors Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr. and Charles P. Richards Jr. have pleaded guilty to bribery charges.
Georgia sheriff: 3 dead, 2 hurt in apparent murder-suicide
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Authorities say three people are dead and two children injured in an apparent murder-suicide in Georgia.
Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said at a news conference Thursday that a man drove from Florida to north Georgia’s Lumpkin County, fatally shot a woman and her sister and took his own life. Media outlets report the women, fleeing a domestic violence situation, were tracked down and killed by the man Thursday morning.
Jarrard says three children – ages 16, 13 and 2 – were in the home where the shooting occurred. The oldest, who was shot, was taken with the youngest to a hospital. He did not indicate what injuries the toddler sustained. Their conditions weren’t released. The 13-year-old left the scene to get help and is now with relatives.
No identities were released.
Walker County April meetings rescheduled
LAFAYETTE, Ga. – As Commissioner Shannon Whitfield receives training and goes on a trip to recruit an unnamed business, he rescheduled Walker County’s April meetings.
Whitfield normally holds public meetings on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. But on April 12, he is scheduled to meet “with a prospective industry looking to bring jobs to Walker County,” spokesman Joe Legge said.
On April 26, Whitfield will attend a training session with the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.
As a result, Legge said Whitfield will hold one public meeting this month: on April 19 at 6 p.m. He holds his meetings at his office, located at 101 S Duke St. in LaFayette.
Mother, boyfriend arrested after 3-month-old suffocates
NEWNAN, Ga. – A Georgia woman and her boyfriend have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of the woman’s 3-month-old baby.
Newnan Police Department Deputy Chief Mark Cooper tells WAGA-TV the baby was unable to lift his head from a plush pillow and suffocated. He says the couple, 23-year-old Elizabeth Norris and 30-year-old Adam Brady, was knew the dangers of putting a child face down in a crib. They were arrested Monday.
Cooper says the two had a “total disregard for this child’s life and their neglect caused his death.” He says his department is working with the Division of Family and Children Services on the case.
Tennessee schools leader charged with another assault count
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – A Tennessee schools superintendent is now charged with two counts of assault related to his actions during a student’s reported psychological emergency.
News outlets reported Wednesday that Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney had a second charge filed against him in the Feb. 20 incident at Franklin High School after the student’s mother gave sworn testimony to a magistrate. Looney had previously been charged with assault for how he handled the student.
Franklin police said responders and the mother were working to transport the girl to the hospital when Looney grabbed the student and forced her to his vehicle, before officers intervened.
The school board declined to take disciplinary action against Looney, who is currently on medical leave for a pancreatic tumor.
It’s unclear whether he has a lawyer.
20 file petitions to run for mayor of Tennessee capital city
NASHVILLE – The deadline to file to seek the office of mayor of Tennessee’s capital city has passed, with 20 people returning petitions to run.
News outlets report Nashville Mayor David Briley is among those filing. Briley was sworn in a month ago after Megan Barry resigned.
State Rep. Harold Love Jr. is also among those filing for the Aug. 2 election. Others include at-large Councilwoman Erica Gilmore, former Metro Councilman Roy Dale, conservative commentator Carol Swain and former conservative radio host Ralph Bristol.
The deadline to file qualifying petitions was noon Thursday. The petitions were still being verified Thursday afternoon.
If the August winner doesn’t receive a majority of votes, the top two candidates will have a runoff later. The winner will serve until August 2019.
Senate passes bill that upends some short-term rental bans
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that overturns some local short-term rental bans following a debate that lasted more than two hours with lawmakers arguing about property rights versus local control.
Lawmakers from Nashville were the most vocal against the bill. The city recently passed restrictions on short-term rentals such as Airbnb following complaints from neighborhood groups of noise and rowdy parties at the rentals and their rapid growth changing the fabrics of communities.
The measure that passed Thursday was a compromise that allowed for investors in short-term rental properties to keep renting them out in the future and be grandfathered in if a local government bans them in the future.
Nashville passed a law earlier this year that would phase out short-term rentals of non-owner occupied properties.
Move to declare that God is the source of liberty advances
A resolution that would change the Tennessee Constitution to say that God is the source of liberty for the state’s citizens is gaining momentum.
The House passed the measure last year and it will go before a full Senate vote after clearing a judiciary committee this week.
One of the main sponsors of the House joint resolution is Rep. Micah Van Huss, a Republican from Jonesborough.
Van Huss is proposing that the state constitution say, “We recognize that our liberties do not come from governments, but from Almighty God.”
Amending the Tennessee constitution is a lengthy process. Proposed changes must pass by a majority during one two-year General Assembly, and then pass by at least two-thirds in the next, and then be approved by voters in a gubernatorial election year.
Court overturns man’s drug convictions, rebukes policeman
KNOXVILLE – A Tennessee police officer repeatedly accused of using illegal tactics to arrest black men has been publicly rebuked by judges for the third time in his seven-year career.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported Tuesday that a case in the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals marks the third time judges rebuked tactics of Knoxville police Officer Thomas Turner as legally flawed and dismissed charges. The court recently overturned drug-possession convictions against 52-year-old Calvin Lyndell Dibrell.
The court ruled Turner and fellow officers in 2014 illegally detained Dibrell and searched him despite finding no legal cause. Prescription painkillers were found in Dibrell’s car and he was later sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk says no disciplinary action has been taken against Turner in connection with racial profiling allegations.
Family of Grundy body shop owner offers $1,000 reward in burglary
ALTAMONT, Tenn. – A $1,000 reward has been offered in a body shop burglary in Palmer for information leading to an arrest for the theft and possible recovery of large quantity of expensive stolen tools.
The loss of tools is estimated at $10,000 to $20,000, Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum said in a Facebook Live video.
The owner is a local widow, Shrum said.
“It takes a pretty low pretty low person to break into a widow woman’s place and carry her stuff off,” he said. “Those tools were specific to a job trade.”
Anyone with any information on the theft should call Sheriff Shrum or investigator Larry Sims at 931-692-3466. Callers can remain anonymous.
Dancing police officer video goes viral
CHATTANOOGA – A video of a Chattanooga police officer dancing at East Lake Courts during an Easter event has gone viral.
The video of Officer Michael Ampthor, posted this week by WDEF-TV Channel 12, has received more than 1 million views on Facebook, the station said. It also has been shared on news networks across the country, including CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
In the video, Ampthor is seen dancing as residents look on, with some in the crowd, including the Easter bunny, joining in.
“For me it’s just another day serving the community,” Ampthor told WDEF.
“From community meetings to playing basketball with the children in the neighborhoods to an impromptu ‘stanky leg’ dance-off, the men and women of the Chattanooga Police Department know that we must show who we are in order to build the relationships and trust with the people in the community we serve and protect,” Police Chief David Roddy said Thursday.
Owners of 5 dogs who mauled Alabama woman to death charged
SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – The owners of the dogs that mauled a woman whose death prompted legislation have been charged.
AL.com reports that 43-year-old Brian Keith Graden and 45-year-old Melody Ann Grader were booked Tuesday on charges of criminally negligent homicide and failure to immunize a pet for rabies. The Gradens owned the five dogs that fatally attacked 24-year-old Emily Colvin on Dec. 7 and injured another woman.
In February, Alabama lawmakers passed “Emily’s Law,” under which dog owners face harsh fines or prison time if their animals injure or kill another person. The Gradens could not be charged under that law, as it was passed after the Colvin’s death.
It’s unclear whether the Gradens have lawyers.