From WRIL
Several individuals with serious charges will be in area circuit courts this week.
In Bell County on Monday, December 19, 2022 -
44-year-old Brian Keith Hopkins of Middlesboro is charged with having intercourse with a young child. On April 16th of 2021, Kentucky State Police Trooper Keith Baker arrested Brian Keith Hopkins after executing a complaint warrant.
In the citation, Trooper Baker states Hopkins is alleged to have “sexual intercourse with a child aged 12 who is incapable of consent,”.
Hopkins was lodged in the Bell County Detention Center charged with Rape – 2nd degree – no force.
He had been held on a $250,000 cash bond.
____________
A Middlesboro man charged with attempted murder will be back in court today.
23-year-old Tommy "Trey" Ellison was arrested on January 17, 2022, after Middlesboro Police arrested him for attempted murder among other charges.
Ellison is accused of being involved in a shooting at Rennie Gayle Homes in 2020 after a man was shot in the leg during the incident. Ellison was seen leaving in a gray Ford Taurus that had been parked in front of the victim's home. To catch him, officers set up a perimeter around the area to stop the car from getting away.
After leaving the residence he was eventually stopped on Winchester Avenue.
Tommy Ellison was charged with one count of attempted murder and fourteen counts of wanton endangerment along with several other felony warrants.
Ellison was re-arrested on June 27th of this year and charged with assault and possession of a controlled substance - Methamphetamine. His bond on the previous charges was revoked and he was transferred to Clay County Detention Center for holding.
____________
Also in court today will be a man with similar charges. 25-year-old William Brock of Kettle Island was arrested on February 13, 2022, by K-9 Sgt. Adam Southern after he was dispatched to an Elliott Lane residence in reference to a possible intoxicated male subject seeking medical treatment.
Once on scene Sgt. Southern walked up to the residence where he saw a woman standing on the porch acting as if she was panicked. The sergeant then saw Brock standing in the doorway, holding two knives screaming, and then slammed the door, and locking the deadbolt. Due to potential danger to those inside the residence including children, Sgt. Southern then kicked the door down and entered the home finding Brock standing in the middle of the living room holding both knives up in front of him repeatedly yelling “come on". Southern then deployed his taser bringing Brock into compliance and he was immediately placed under arrest.
William Brock was charged with wanton endangerment - 1st degree (police officer), wanton endangerment, criminal mischief - 2nd degree, burglary, and resisting arrest. He was also served a parole violation.
____________
In court in Whitley County Monday -
An Indiana man accused of being involved in the September 2017 deaths of a Williamsburg woman, her husband, and her son.
42-year-old Darnel Chivers, of Indianapolis, has been charged with three counts of murder, first-degree burglary, and tampering with physical evidence in connection to the September 2017 deaths of Emogene Gardner Bittner, 36; Christopher Bittner, 24; and Robert Kennedy III, 16, at their Deep Branch Road residence. All three died from strangulation.
____________
Also in court in Whitley County is a Corbin man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend in May of 2019 before fleeing the scene and eluding police for more than a month. 38-year-old Nicholas Rucker, was indicted for murder, tampering with physical, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
Law enforcement says Rucker shot 57-year-old Vicki S. Conner at a residence where the pair had been staying.
Soon after the incident, police obtained a warrant for Rucker’s arrest, though he could not be located for several weeks. He continued to elude police until a tip was received in the early hours of July 4 that he had been spotted at a residence on Meadow Lark Circle in Corbin, where deputies with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department located him walking out of a woodline and through the backyard of a residence. Following a brief scuffle with deputies, he was taken into custody.
In June of this year, a Whitley County Grand Jury indicted Rucker and two other three inmates on additional charges stemming from an attempted escape on April 29 at the Whitley County Detention Center.
Paul Brock, Nicholas Rucker, and Jordan Miracle were all incarcerated at the jail for separate murder cases when they allegedly escaped from their locked cells and kidnapped three jail employees.
____________
A Williamsburg man who was shot by a Kentucky State Police trooper in a January 15th hostage situation is facing a 19-count indictment from a Whitley County grand jury, he is scheduled to make a court appearance today (Monday, December 19, 2022). The indictment for Carl Amos Moses, Jr., 26, includes a charge of attempted murder, six counts of kidnapping involving children, 10 counts of wanton endangerment of children and police, and two counts of assault.
The Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team investigated a trooper-involved shooting that occurred at approximately 11:23 p.m. Jan. 15 near Emlyn. KSP stated that a subject had fired shots inside the residence and was refusing to allow his wife and children to leave the home.
Moses is accused of pointing a gun in the direction of the trooper and officers and a trooper discharged their agency-issued firearm, striking hime, ending the incident.
Moses was flown to the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, where he was in critical condition. After he was stable he was arrested and taken to Whitley County Detention Center.
____________
In court on Tuesday the 20th in Harlan County
A Harlan County man jailed in connection with the death of his girlfriend will be making an appearance.
As we previously reported, Friday night November 19, 2021, state troopers from post 10 responded to a call in the Putney community of a woman, identified as Ashley North, not breathing. Once troopers were on scene they made contact with the owner of the home 58-year-old Donald Turner of Baxter. They found North, his girlfriend, unresponsive. EMTs determined Ashley was deceased and Harlan County Coroner Jim Rich declared her dead the next morning.
The preliminary findings were that North’s injuries and evidence on scene were consistent with Turner exposing North to “serious physical injury leading to her death.”
Donald Turner has been charged with unlawful imprisonment and kidnapping where the victim dies.
He had been held in the Harlan County Detention Center on a $150,000 cash bond.