Police say Wilson responsible for church burglary and theft

March 15, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A man who broke into and stole items from a church before driving away in a church van has been arrested after an investigation by Smithville Police.

38-year-old Daniel Ray Wilson of 1100 West Broad Street was arrested on March 2 for four counts of burglary, theft of property, and two counts of joy riding. His bond is $52,500 and he will make a court appearance on March 17.

Smithville Police were dispatched to Outreach Baptist Church on South Congress Boulevard February 23 in reference to a burglary that had occurred there. The officer met with the pastor and was advised that an unknown white male had entered the building through a classroom door on Monday, February 21 and Tuesday, February 22. The suspect then went throughout the building taking several items totaling approximately $2,370. The suspect later identified as Wilson loaded the stolen items in a church van and drove away before returning later with the van but not the stolen goods. One day, Wilson was spotted getting into another van there where it appeared he had been sleeping. On another day Wilson was seen leaving the property on foot. After an investigation by Smithville Police, Wilson was taken into custody and charged in the case.

A man who walked into a local business and threatened to shoot employees there has been arrested for assault.

55-year-old Marty Brent Tallent of 465 West Broad Street is under a $3,500 bond and he will be in court on the charge March 24.

According to Smithville Police, Tallent entered Galaxy Ford on West Broad Street last Thursday, March 10 and threatened to shoot employees. No one was injured. Tallent then left the dealership and went to Pokey’s Tire Shop and attempted to make entry into a vehicle that didn’t belong to him. He was later stopped by officers at A Plus heating and Cooling where he became belligerent and began threatening physical harm to officers. Tallent was placed under arrest and no weapon was found on his person.

26-year-old Kenneth Randolph Stokes III of Texas was arrested on March 1 for evading arrest and cited for reckless driving. His bond is $10,000 and March 31 is his court date. According to Smithville Police, an officer spotted a gold Toyota Camry traveling at a high speed through the parking lot of Village Market with no regard for public safety. He then activated his blue lights on North Congress Boulevard but the driver, Stokes did not stop. Stokes turned east onto Smith Road and continued traveling at approximately 50mph before turning west onto East Broad Street and coming to a stop in the parking lot of Gill’s Automotive. Stokes was then taken into custody without incident. A Glock 9mm handgun was recovered from Stokes’ vehicle and taken into evidence.

Paul Allen Willingham of 107 East Webb Street was cited for simple possession of schedule II & IV drugs on March 2. According to police, Willingham was stopped for failure to use a turn signal at East Bryant Street onto South College and for no tag lights. The arresting officer discovered that Willingham had in his possession, one Oxycodone and four Alprazolam pills for which he had no prescription. His court date is April 22.

38-year-old Sheri Leeann Murphy of 150 New Bildad Road was cited for Theft of Property on March 9. According to Smithville Police, Murphy entered Center Hill Wine & Spirits and tried to steal a bottle of Vodka but a store clerk confronted Murphy and she removed the bottle from her purse and left the store. Murphy’s court date is March 24.

41-year-old Brandon Ryan Haggard of 104 West Woodlawn Street was arrested on March 9 for aggravated assault. Smithville Police received a call about a physical domestic in progress and upon arrival at the scene spoke with the victim who had marks around her neck, up and down her arms, and a knot on her head. The officers discovered that Haggard had hit and grabbed the victim by the hair and threw her to the ground causing her injury. Bond for Haggard is $15,000 and his court date is April 7.

36-year-old Michael Andrew Snyders Jr. of 739 West Main Street was cited for theft of property on March 10. A loss prevention employee at Wal-Mart spotted Snyders putting a padlock in his jacket pocket. When confronted Snyders admitted to the officer that while he had put the padlock in his pocket he felt bad and put it back on the shelf. His court date is April 8.

March 14, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A man caught with methamphetamine and a stolen handgun will make a court appearance on the charges next month.

49-year-old William Oscar Meadows of Big Rock Road, Smithville is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver; possession of a firearm during a felony; theft of property; violation of an order of protection; and tampering with evidence. His bond is $98,000 and he will make a court appearance April 18.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on March 8 a deputy pulled over a silver F-150 Ford for driving on a closed roadway and spoke with the driver, Meadows. After being asked by the officer to step out of the vehicle to be read his citations, Meadows pulled from his pocket a clear glass pipe and threw it on the ground causing it to break. The deputy then placed Meadows in handcuffs and conducted a pat down search of his person. Inside his pocket was a container which held a clear crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine which weighed 9 grams. Meadows also admitted to having a firearm under the driver’s seat of the truck. A loaded Ruger LCP 9-millimeter handgun was recovered from the vehicle. Central dispatch learned through NCIC (National Crime Information Center) that the gun was reported stolen in Jackson County. Meadows, who is also under an active order of protection, was determined to be in violation of the order by having the handgun in his possession.

50-year-old David Eugene Driver of Arrowhead Drive, Smithville is charged with a 7th offense of driving on a revoked or suspended license. His bond is $3,500 and he will be in court March 24. Sheriff Ray said that on March 9 a deputy was patrolling Pea Ridge Road when he spotted Driver operating a silver Dodge Dakota. Knowing that Driver’s license was revoked, the officer pulled over the vehicle and Driver was placed under arrest.

22-year-old Brian Allen Dayton of Kings Court, Smithville is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver; criminal impersonation; and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bond is $20,000.

Sheriff Ray said that on March 11 members of the sheriff’s department executed a search warrant at Dayton’s residence where Dayton admitted to having methamphetamine in the room with him. Found inside the room was 0.82 grams of a crystal-like substance believed to be meth along with baggies, pipes, digital scales, and other drug paraphernalia. When first confronted, Dayton told the officers that his name was Jerico Green but later confirmed his real identify after being shown his driver license photo and information.

24-year-old Zachary Allen Thomas of East Main Street, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence and possession of a handgun while under the influence. His bond is $5,000 and he will be in court April 7. Sheriff Ray said that on March 11 after receiving a call about a reckless driver in a green Dodge Ram pickup, a deputy spotted the vehicle and pulled it over. The officer found that the driver, Thomas smelled of alcohol. As he exited the truck, a loaded 380 pistol fell out of Thomas’ lap onto the ground. Thomas submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. He was then placed under arrest.

31-year-old Jerry Donald Cantrell of Adcock Cemetery Road, Smithville is charged with violation of an order of protection. He is under a $5,000 bond and will be in court March 24. Sheriff Ray said that on March 11 a deputy arrested Cantrell after he was found at the residence of someone, he was supposed to stay away from under conditions of the protection order.

37-year-old Antonio Juan Munoz-Hernandez of Adcock Cemetery Road is charged with driving under the influence. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court April 7. Sheriff Ray said that on March 13 while patrolling on Sparta Highway, a deputy spotted a white Lincoln car off the roadway in a ditch. Hernandez was in the driver seat. After stopping and removing Hernandez from the vehicle, the officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from Hernandez’s person and that he was very unsteady on his feet. Due to a language barrier, a Smithville Police officer came to the scene and had Hernandez submit to field sobriety tasks. Hernandez could not complete the tasks due to his level of intoxication. Officers learned that Hernandez’s vehicle had earlier sideswiped another automobile traveling on Sparta Highway.

March 14, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville is seeking a grant to fund a transitional housing program for people in recovery from substance abuse.

The Upper Cumberland Development District will apply for the Community Development Block Grant-Recovery Housing Grant through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development on behalf of the city to be administered by the Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency if approved.

A public hearing will be held on Monday, April 4 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The hearing is open to the public and active participation is highly encouraged

UCDD and UCHRA Executive Director Mark Farley informed the Mayor and Aldermen Monday night, March 7 during their regular monthly meeting that Smithville has a good chance of getting this grant because of the need.

“When we looked across the 14 county Upper Cumberland region we assessed that DeKalb County would probably score highest. Unfortunately that is based on percentage of overdoses that DeKalb County has compared to other counties across the state. Sometimes grants come to you because of good things and sometimes grants come because things are not going so good. For whatever reason, DeKalb County had the highest percentage of overdose deaths in 2019 which is the base year they are looking at (for grant eligibility). We feel like DeKalb would be the best among the upper Cumberland counties to apply for this grant. The reason I am coming to you (City of Smithville) first is that for recovery housing opportunities it would probably make sense to put that (transitional housing) inside the city limits. There are not a lot of these grants to be funded. The state only has $1.8 million to go all the way across the state and the maximum grant award can be $750,000 so there will probably only be a couple of awards across the state,” said Farley.

If approved, Farley said the city will partner with UCHRA under terms of the grant program to manage the transitional housing facility to serve from 8-12 people in recovery who would be charged rent to live there.

“In this grant application the city would have to partner with an agency to oversee this recovery housing and that’s where UCHRA would come into that. We run a substance abuse program that we have had for a couple of years where we work with individuals to get them into recovery and once they get out of recovery we try to place them into housing, put them in jobs, and make sure they have all the supports they need to be successful coming back into society. We (UCHRA) would offer to be that partnering agency. There is no grant match required from the city. We (UCHRA) would take care of all costs. It would not cost the City of Smithville anything. UCDD would oversee the grant writing and UCHRA would manage it. Rent would be charged to the residents. We are talking about a facility for 8-12 individuals and they would pay a monthly rate to cover the operation of it,” said Farley.

The location of the facility has not yet been identified

“You could take an existing apartment unit and rehab it. You can do new construction or you can acquire existing property. We would lay out who would be in this housing and how long they would be there and I assume you could put some other stipulations on that as well from the community level. We have done some housing grant programs like this in the past where you (local governments) apply for the funds, get it awarded, oversee the grant contract, and then deed the property over to say the UCDD or UCHRA and from there we take it and maintain it. If you (city) wanted to retain ownership you could do that to where we (UCHRA) would only be overseeing it so that while its under the grant contract we (UCHRA) would manage it as transitional housing and if it ever ceased to be that then it would revert back to the city,” said Farley.

During Monday night’s meeting, March 7, the aldermen voted to authorize UCDD to make application for the grant which must be filed by April 29.

“It requires a resolution to apply,” said Farley. “I suggest that we (UCHRA) put together a proposal for you and bring it back at your next city council meeting and then go through all the details and explain exactly what we would propose. If you (city) have stipulations you would also like to impose as well we would be open to hear that and then see where this project goes. The application is due April 29. There are some reporting and public hearing deadlines so we would need to go ahead and start that process as soon as possible,” Farley added.

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