Carpenter Pleads Not Guilty to Child Sex Crime

August 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A local clergyman indicted two weeks ago in a child sex crime made his first court appearance Monday, August 7.

James Michael Carpenter accompanied by his attorney Jeff Cherry of Lebanon appeared before Judge Wesley Bray in DeKalb County Criminal Court for arraignment. He entered a not guilty plea to the indictment and will be back in court on November 7. Bond for Carpenter was set at $75,000 and he was ordered to surrender his passport and instructed not to leave the state. Carpenter had been held without bond since his arrest.

Carpenter has pastored or been involved in several local churches and has reportedly participated in ministry mission trips over the years.

The victim in this case was 4 years old at the time of the alleged first offense.

According to the indictment, Carpenter “on or about April 17, 2015 to April 17, 2017 in DeKalb County and before the finding of this indictment did unlawfully make sexual contact with a minor child less than 13 years of age in violation of state law”.

August 8, 2023
By:

The DCHS girls’ golf team won the Cookeville High School Early Bird Tournament Monday, August 7.

The local girls’ golf team, made up of Alison Poss, Chloe Boyd, and Emily Anderson, won the tournament with a score of 154. Freshman Chloe Boyd finished 2nd with a 76 and Alison Poss finished 3rd with a 78.

The boys team finished 6th out of 10 teams competing. They were led by Will Blair with an 84, Brayden Summers 86, Brad Hale 86, Abram Koegler 89, and Cooper Goodwin 91.

The boys are now 7-6 on the year and the girls are 5-0.

“We had to battle the weather, but the kids played well. Our girls were just awesome, and the boys are coming on. The future looks bright for these kids,” said DCHS golf coach John Pryor.

August 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Another person indicted more than a year ago in a special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury for conspiracy to sell more than 300 grams of methamphetamine stemming from an investigation called “Operation Ice Pick” was sentenced Monday, August 7 in DeKalb County Criminal Court.

36-year-old Tiffany Jeannette Ford entered a plea to conspiracy to sell a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) over 0.5 grams and received an 8-year TDOC sentence to serve at least 30% before her release eligibility date. She was fined $2,000. The sentence is to run concurrently with a 4-year sentence she is serving in Cumberland County. Ford was given jail credit of 430 days.

The indictments in June, 2022 against Ford and eight others followed an eight month long undercover investigation started by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department into a major local drug trafficking operation. The TBI and other agencies later joined the sheriff’s department in the probe from February to October 2021 in which drug buys were made through confidential informants.

Five others indicted from “Operation Ice Pick” in June 2022 were sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court earlier this year including three in January 2023 and two in June, 2023. The three sentenced in January were 33-year-old Tara R. Treadway of Smithville, 30-year-old Phillip Joe Potter of McMinnville, and 45-year-old Amy L. Hall of Alexandria. The two sentenced in June were 52-year-old Shawn David Troglen of Charlie Dickerson Road, Sparta and 49-year-old Charles Edward White, Jr. of Johnson’s Chapel Road, Sparta.

Cases against three others, 53-year-old Eva Louise Dover of Smithville, 32-year-old Paige Lynn Simmons of McMinnville, and 37-year-old Robert H. Murdock of Killen, Alabama apparently remain pending in court.

Treadway entered a plea to conspiracy to possess in excess of 0.5 grams of methamphetamine and received a 10-year sentence in the Tennessee Department of Corrections to serve at least 30% before parole eligibility. The term is to run consecutively to a White County Criminal Court case against her and concurrently with a Cumberland County case. She was fined $2,000 and given jail credit of 189 days.

Potter’s sentence was for conspiracy to possess over 0.5 grams of methamphetamine, and he received an 8-year suspended term to run concurrently with a Warren County case against him. He was ordered to forfeit any property seized by the investigating agency. Potter was fined $2,000 and given jail credit of 147 days.

Hall entered a plea to conspiracy to sell over 0.5 grams of methamphetamine and received an 8-year sentence all suspended to TDOC probation with release eligibility of 30%. She was fined $2,000.

Troglen’s sentence was for conspiracy to sell more than 300 grams of methamphetamine and he got a 20-year sentence to serve. Troglen must forfeit all property seized to the investigating agency and he was fined $5,000. The sentence is to run concurrently with a Putnam County case against him in which he also entered a plea to possession of more than 26 grams of meth and received a 20-year sentence to serve. In that case, Troglen must also forfeit all property and contraband seized to the investigating agency. The 20-year term is to run consecutively to a sentence he is now serving for a parole revocation. He was given jail credit from June 9, 2022 to June 20, 2023.

White entered a plea to charges of conspiracy to sell over 300 grams of methamphetamine, sale of more than 0.5 grams of meth (2 counts), and sale of more than 26 grams of meth (2 counts). White received a 20-year sentence to serve in one case and 8 years in each of the other four all to run concurrently with a total fine of $5,000. He must serve at least 35% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole and he must forfeit all property and contraband seized to the investigating agency. White was given jail credit of 376 days.

In other cases, 31-year-old Britta Morgan Rollins entered a plea to possession of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver and received an 8-year sentence suspended to supervised probation as a range I offender. She was fined $2,000. Rollins was given 13 days jail credit.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on May 8, 2021 a deputy found Rollins, who was a backseat passenger of an automobile, and placed her under arrest for failure to appear. After being removed from the vehicle the officer asked Rollins if she had anything on her person, Rollins replied that she had methamphetamine in her bra. She then produced a clear baggie containing a crystal-like substance believed to be meth which weighed 8 grams.

42-year-old Christopher Matthew McPherson of Cookeville, just indicted last week for Sale and Delivery of a Schedule II drug (Methamphetamine) over 0.5 grams entered a guilty plea and received an 8-year sentence all suspended to supervised probation. He was fined $2,000.

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