Three arrested on meth charges
ROCKY FACE, Ga. – The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit arrested three people Friday afternoon for allegedly trying to sell methamphetamine.
Task Force Agent Matt Cole wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit that he found 46-year-old Donald Mark Brown, 23-year-old Charlesy Miranda Bellas and 39-year-old Meredith Ann Davis in an outbuilding at 327 Joe Roberson Road. Also in the outbuilding, he said: several bags of methamphetamine.
Cole wrote that he found digital scales with methamphetamine residue on it, sandwich bags next to the scales and several pipes with the drug’s residue inside. He then charged Brown, Bellas and Davis with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
While at the house, he also said he found Derrick Scott Johnson asleep on the couch. A methamphetamine pipe lay on the coffee table next to Johnson, 21, whom Cole arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
Man charged with firing shots
DALTON, Ga. – Dalton police arrested a man Monday morning for allegedly unloading his gun during an argument.
According to an incident report, Raul Ramon Cardenas admitted to firing shots while in an argument with Julian Jesus Estrada and Anthony Edward Keefe. He told officers that he fired five or six shots. He fired some in the air; he fired the rest into the ground. He said he abandoned the gun near a stop sign when he thought he was out of ammo.
Estrada told officers the fight began because he and Cardenas got into an argument over a text message. He said Cardenas heard he was insulting him to others. The report does not say why, specifically, Estrada would do that, or what he might have said. But Estrada told an investigator that he and Cardenas agreed to a fight.
Estrada said he and Keefe began to drive toward Cardenas’ house. But on the way, they found Cardenas walking nearby. They stopped and got out and argued. Estrada said Cardenas then pulled a gun, pointed it at him and Keefe and opened fire.
Officers responded to the scene around 12:20 a.m. When they found Cardenas, according to the report, he initially denied firing any shots. He said he and Estrada simply got into an argument.
But officers took him to the police station. There, according to the report, he said he fired shots. He said he bought the gun from a friend at work.
The department charged him with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless conduct.
Suspect sought in Grundy tractor theft
SEQUATCHIE COUNTY, Tenn. – The Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help identifying a person they say stole a tractor on Saturday in Grundy County, Tennessee.
The tractor was stolen from Stagecoach Road in Grundy County, and authorities chased the person into Sequatchie County until he crashed and began running on foot, according to a news release. He is still on the loose.
The only description authorities have is that he is a taller man with dark hair and a red bandanna, the news release states.
Police ask anyone in the area of Daus Mountain Road who sees him to please call 423-949-9912, the Sequatchie County 911 Center or the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Department at 423-949-7750.
Pygmy rattlesnake research continues
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is once again assisting wildlife biologists at Tennessee State University in research to determine the distribution of pygmy rattlesnakes in Tennessee.
The pygmy rattlesnake is listed as a threatened species in the state, and the research will help in species conservation efforts, according to a news release.
Native to Tennessee, pygmy rattlesnakes are predators that are rarely encountered and play important ecological roles, including the control of rodent populations. These tiny snakes, seldom seen by humans, will rattle their tails when threatened, but bites are extremely rare and non-fatal if treatment is administered.
To aid their research, the TSU wildlife biologists are asking anyone who happens to encounter a pygmy rattlesnake to document the location with a photograph and to make sure the phone’s GPS location turned on, the news release states. (For most phones and some cameras it is located in settings under privacy.) This will provide GPS coordinates of the photo to document the exact location.
Previous pygmy rattlesnake sightings, along with photographs, also can be reported with specific location data and the date of the sighting. People are reminded not to harass or attempt to capture the snakes.
Pygmy rattlesnake sightings and information may be reported to one of the following biologists: Shawn Snyder at ssnyder1@my.tnstate.edu or 717-683-4226, or Bill Sutton at wsutton@tnstate.edu or 615-963-7787. Funding for the project is being provided by the TWRA through state and tribal wildlife grants.