Three Men Charged with Joyriding

June 13, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Three men have been charged with unauthorized use of an automobile (joyriding) after taking a Kubota UTV on May 26 without the owner’s permission and driving through a nursery on Cripps Lane. The Kubota was later recovered at another location.

18 year old Austin Tyler England of South Bright Hill Street, 18 year old Mason Owen Zechary of Smyrna, and 20 year old Laradon Raine Wiggins of Evins Mill Road will make a court appearance on the charge today (June 13).

Zechary and England are also charged with burglary and theft of property in a separate case after breaking into a 2008 Gold Chevy Malibu on Love Colony Road and taking several identity documents belonging to the owner including a brown leather wallet valued at $70 and a Samsung Galaxy Note8 valued at $700.  Zechary is believed to have taken the lead in the crimes with England assisting him. During the investigation, the detective recovered 1.1 grams of marijuana from Zechary’s front pocket. He was charged with simple possession of a schedule VI drug for that.

Bond for Zechary totals $15,000 and $14,000 for England. Wiggins’ bond is $1,500.

A prisoner who smuggled drugs into the jail by hiding them in his rectum has been charged.

Donald Richard Atnip, Jr. of Belk Road is under a $5,500 bond for bringing contraband into a penal institution. His court date June 27

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on June 9 Atnip was brought to the jail after being arrested on other charges. Correctional officers later spotted him on video surveillance inside the jail trying to retrieve something from his rectum. They investigated and found that Atnip had hidden a small blue pill container there that held four whole pills and three pill pieces believed to be suboxone.

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