CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ala.
Authorities hunt for bank robber
Northeast Alabama and federal authorities spent much of Tuesday searching for four people who robbed a bank in Cherokee County.
Three people were arrested, but police still are searching for a fourth, believed to be in the area of state Highway 35 and Pumpkin Center Road in DeKalb County, DeKalb sheriff’s office spokeswoman Stanna Guice said.
The bank was robbed before 11 a.m. Tuesday, and the robbers fled into DeKalb County, Guice said. They eventually wrecked their vehicle on Highway 35 near New Canaan Church, she said.
Sheriff’s offices in both counties, local police, Alabama state troopers and FBI agents will continue the search until the fourth person is found, Guice said.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Bond set for man in diving death
A judge has set a $100,000 bond for an Alabama man facing a capital murder charge in the drowning of his new bride on a honeymoon scuba dive in Australia seven years ago.
The judge set the bond Tuesday in Birmingham for 33-year-old Gabe Watson. He served 18 months in an Australian jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter there in the 2003 death of Tina Watson.
State prosecutors objected to any bond.
If Watson makes bail he will have to wear an electronic monitoring device, remain at his home at night and not go near Tina Watson’s grave or family members, Circuit Judge Tommy Nail said.
Prosecutors say Watson plotted to kill his wife for a life insurance payout. Defense attorneys want the case dismissed.
MARYVILLE, Tenn.
Pain management workers indicted
A federal grand jury in Knoxville has returned multiple-count indictments against five people affiliated with two Maryville pain clinics.
Tamral Guzman, 40, of Maryville, is accused of operating Maryville Pain Management and charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including oxycodone, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and structuring cash transactions to avoid federal currency transaction reporting requirements. Brian Downey, 37, also of Maryville, is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and the structuring offenses in the same indictment with Guzman, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Bill Killian’s office.
Also arrested were Sandra Kincaid, 59; her husband, Randy Kincaid, 55; and her daughter, Wendy Henry, 41, all of Maryville.
Sandra Kincaid, her husband and daughter are charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including oxycodone. The Kincaids also are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Randy Kincaid is charged with several counts of structuring cash transactions to avoid federal currency transaction reporting requirements.
If convicted, each defendant faces a term of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million, according to Killian.
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn.
Teens convicted in botched robbery
Two teenagers convicted in a botched robbery at a Gatlinburg hotel face sentencing in April.
The prosecutor told The Mountain Press that Jack Brandon Price put a pistol to the face of one of two victims and pulled the trigger in November 2009.
District Attorney Jimmy Dunn said fortunately the ammunition clip fell out of the gun and Price and Larry Thomas Cochran, both 19, ran from the Greystone Lodge.
A Sevier County jury on Friday found Price and Cochran guilty of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.
Price and Cochran face sentences of 15 to 40 years.