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BradleySheriff.com
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Written by Bob Gault, Public Information Office
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Wednesday, 24 February 2010 |
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An investigation that started last summer when Bradley County Sheriff’s Detectives arrested John Richard Glover Sr. on child pornography charges ended last week in federal court.  John Richard Glover Sr. Glover earlier pled guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced by District Court Judge Curtis Collier to 90 months in prison and is required to comply with provisions of the federal sexual offender registry for the remainder of his life. Glover’s arrest was the result of an unrelated investigation by BCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division. While viewing files on his computer hard drive with a search warrant, detectives found a number of images of child pornography. Special Agent Scott Barker of the FBI assisted with the investigation. |
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Thursday, 18 February 2010 |
Statistics for the inmate work crews are in for January. According to the daily work house logs, inmates performed lawn care, landscaping and cleaning fences at Walker Valley High School, and cleaned up branches and cut trees at Taylor Elementary. They cleaned up salt and sand at Union Grove cemetery and cleared brush at the Charleston ballpark. They performed litter pick-up, cleaned walls and hallways, and stripped and waxed the floors at the Justice Center, as well as salting and sanding there after the recent snowfall. They hauled four tons of dirt from the Tri-State Exhibition Center to the inmate garden, helped out at the BCSO garage, performed litter pick-up on a number of county roadways and serviced maintenance equipment.
These work crews continue to perform well for the county, saving time and money. When you consider the costs of paying county employees or contractors to perform the same tasks that are now being done by the work crews, we have estimated the savings to taxpayers last year was approximately $1.1 million. This is just another way the BCSO is working to off-set expenses for the second largest public safety organization in Bradley County.
But inmates can only do so much and while they perform in a thorough and conscientious manner, all too often the roadways become littered again almost as soon as the crews get them cleaned. Where the crews will restore an area to its pristine nature, litter bugs seem to hit with a vengeance, leaving paper cups, fast food wrappers, paper bags, diapers, cigarette butts and pretty much anything else you can imagine.
This was made clear to me recently after driving through an area the inmates had recently cleaned and noticing it was already being choked with new trash and litter. If the public knew just how much litter the work crews clean from county roadways and public property each month, I think they would be surprised. But if they realized how quickly litter begins to re-accumulate, I think they would be shocked.
In most cases, the litter is tossed from the windows of moving cars or is blown from truck beds. The obvious solution would be to keep a litter bag in your car and use it. Upon returning home, it is a simple matter to deposit the litter bag in your outside trash can for regular curbside pickup. Or, litter can be disposed of in a dumpster.
Protecting the environment is an important aspect of public safety. If there are any doubts as to what the laws in Tennessee are regarding litter, you may want to clip this column out and keep it in your car. In Tennessee, a person commits littering who:
1). Knowingly places, drops or throws litter on any public or private property without permission and does not immediately remove it;
2). Negligently places or throws glass or other dangerous substances on or adjacent to water which the public has access to for swimming or wading, or on or within 50 feet of a public highway, or
3). Negligently discharges sewage, minerals, oil products or litter into any public waters or lakes within this state.
Anyone found guilty of violating these statutes can receive a fine, plus court costs, and may even face the possibility of having to perform community service.
Litter pick-up is just one area covered by the inmate work crews. They also perform duties at the Tri-State Exhibition Center, assist the County Road Dept., and the help with fleet maintenance at the BCSO garage.
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Written by Bob Gault, Public Information Office
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Wednesday, 17 February 2010 |
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Narcotics seized by Bradley County Sheriff’s detectives during investigation of a vehicle they stopped for a traffic violation on I-75 could have netted over $32,000 on the street.
Detectives assigned to the interstate interdiction unit found almost a thousand Oxycodone pills, over 100 Somas and a small amount of marijuana during a consent search. The driver, Rhonda J. Sparks, 30, and passengers Jason W. Williams, 32, and Tyjuan M. Vanmoore, 24, all from Columbus Ohio, were booked into the Bradley County jail Tuesday charged with possession of schedule II narcotics and possession of legend drugs. Sparks was additionally charged with driving on a suspended license and failure to maintain lane and Vanmoore is also charged with simple possession of marijuana. Detectives monitoring traffic stopped the northbound vehicle after seeing it cross the fog line several times.
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Written by Bob Gault, Public Information Office
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Wednesday, 17 February 2010 |
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The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office recovered a John Deere farm tractor worth $125,000 and several other vehicles during an investigation of thefts from several counties.
Acting on information from the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office, BCSO detectives recovered the farm tractor, a Case Skid Steer loader, and several all terrain vehicles from a residence in southern Bradley County. The farm tractor was stolen in McMinn County approximately six months ago and the other vehicles were traced by their identification numbers to thefts in Meigs and Polk Counties over the last three years. Sheriff Tim Gobble said the investigation is continuing related to other vehicles that are possibly stolen. Gobble expressed appreciation to Sheriff Steve Frisbee and his staff for their assistance and cooperation which made this investigation possible. The combined value of property recovered will be in excess of $150,000. At this time arrests in the case are pending.
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Written by Bob Gault, Public Information Office
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Thursday, 11 February 2010 |
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Sheriff Tim Gobble is proud to report his 2006-2007 reorganization of County law enforcement services continues to pay dividends for the residents of Bradley County as overall criminal offenses declined 12% in 2009 from 2008. There were a total of 3012 reportable offenses in 2009.
Sheriff Gobble stated, “This is a continued example of how our deputies when properly supported can make real and identifiable improvements in the quality of life for the residents of our community. By increasing morale at the BCSO, reducing top-heavy management and putting more deputies and investigators in the field with the proper training and equipment, we continue reductions in crime and violence even during an economic downturn when most expected crime to increase.” There were no homicides in Bradley County in 2009 and all Group A offenses, which include crimes against persons, property and society declined by 12 percent. Some highlights include simple assaults down 6%, vandalism down 26%, vehicle thefts down 18% from 81 to 66, thefts from a vehicle were down 5%, thefts from a building were down 1% and burglaries were down 3% for a total of 317. Group B offenses which include disorderly conduct offenses, DUI, public drunkenness, trespassing etc. were down by four percent. Domestic violence related crime was reduced by 7%. Total arrests made by Bradley County deputies in 2009 were 2,893. The overall crime clearance rate achieved by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is almost 55%, which is about 25% above the national average clearance rate of near 30%. Sheriff Gobble said, “These numbers continue to confirm the BCSO is operating at an all time record level of effectiveness and efficiency and confirm the statements of outside experts made in 2007 when we were identified as one of the top law enforcement agencies in the nation.” “I want to thank each employee here at the BCSO and all members of the public who have supported our efforts. I want to thank District Attorney Steve Bebb and his Office for their assistance in prosecutions as well as the United States Attorney’s Office and the entire local criminal justice system. I also want to thank Mayor Davis and Commissioners Howard Thompson and Brian Smith for their recent support of County law enforcement efforts as much progress continues to be made without the need for any tax increases.” “These statistics while impressive only tell part of the story as there were 86,871 calls for service. Our Corrections Division continues to operate the jail and workhouse programs with great efficiency and our Judicial Services Division continues to protect our courts and serve criminal and civil court orders at record levels.”
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