Public records
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on April 29, 2004 2:03 PM
Shooting remains
under investigation
FREMONT -- The fatal shooting of a 25-year-old Fremont man remained under investigation today by Fremont police and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Nicholas Lonte "Red" Jones of 308 W. Branch St. died at about 7 a.m. Friday in a neighbor's home, about a block away, at 310 S. Pender St.
Police Chief Ben Reid and sheriff's detectives interviewed possible witnesses and neighbors, including Nacarsa R. Ford, 29, the resident at the Pender Street home. Reid also was conducting followup interviews.
No one has been charged in the death. Reid and Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Ray Brogden attended Jones' autopsy Saturday. A forensic pathologist confirmed that Jones died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Two handguns were recovered at the home. Sheriff's Capt. George Raecher declined to say whose guns they were or from whom they were recovered.
Evidence collected at the home also has been submitted to the State Bureau of Investigation laboratory for analysis.
Driver injured
One driver was injured and damages were estimated at $81,200 in five recent traffic collisions in Wayne County, officers reported.
*Two pickups were demolished in a collision at 3:27 p.m. Wednesday at Corporate Drive and an exit from North William Street to Dr. M.L. King Jr. Expressway, Goldsboro police said. Ralph Thomas Gurley, 63, of Church of God Road was charged with a yield violation. The other driver was identified as L. Ray Boyette, 44, of South Andrews Avenue. Damages were set at $48,000.
*A driver whose car was not damaged at 9:21 a.m. Wednesday was charged with a safe-movement violation because two other vehicles sustained an estimated $12,300 in damages, police said. Patsy S. Baker, 71, of South Lee Drive was pulling from Lee Street into East Elm Street. Then, police said, Christopher Robert Blake, 21, of East Ash Street, swerved to the left to avoid Ms. Baker's car and Blake's auto spun out of control and struck a truck driven by Robert Earl Arnold, 59, of Kinston. Blake's car was demolished.
*Damages were estimated at $10,400 at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday at Patetown Road and Alpha Court, police said. Alejandro Loa Mejia, 19, of Dawson Drive, was charged with failure to reduce speed. The other driver was Fred Dallas Jones, 23, of Ann Street.
*Damages were estimated at $7,000 in a three-vehicle collision at 5:17 p.m. Monday on N.C. 111 near Park Road, the Highway Patrol said. Rose F. O'Quinn, 44, of Saddlewood Drive, was charged with exceeding a safe speed. Troopers said Ms. O'Quinn's northbound sport utility vehicle hydroplaned on the wet road and collided with a southbound pickup truck driven by Doris T. Blizzard, 64, of Washboard Avenue, Mount Olive. After the impact, Ms. Blizzard's truck collided with a northbound car operated by Jose Donaldo Cruz Ordonez, 25, of Cabin Creek Drive, Seven Springs.
*A driver was injured at 8:55 a.m. Monday on N.C. 55 near Old Harvey Sutton Road, the Highway Patrol said. Stephanie B. Gardner, 18, of Erwin, was released after emergency-room treatment. She also was charged with failure to reduce speed. The eastbound car that she was driving collided with the rear of a tractor-trailer that was turning into a driveway. The trucker was identified as Charles Lee Tew, 39, of Roseboro. Damages were put at $3,500.
Money laundering
A former Seven Springs resident has been sentenced to about 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.
Leo Hinson, 62, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Court Judge James Fox on Monday and fined $8,400.
Hinson had been indicted in federal court in Raleigh on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine; distribution of methamphetamine, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Other charges were dismissed.
Prosecutors said Hinson had invested more than $2 million of his drug profits in land and equipment in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. He had established a farming operation in South Boston, Va., and installed 25 miles of fence that cost about $250,000. The property that he bought, except for a home and farm equipment in South Carolina, was ordered forfeited.
Investigators also said Hinson got methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine from Texas and elsewhere and supplied the drugs to Phillip Henry Barfield and others for distribution in eastern North Carolina. Barfield is serving a life sentence in federal prison.
Hinson will serve the sentence concurrently with a 293-month sentence imposed in federal court in Virginia. That sentence resulted from his conviction on charges of attempting to have two witnesses to his drug trafficking in North Carolina murdered.
Investigations
A thief pried open a window Wednesday, grabbed about $2 and diamond stud earrings and fled from a home in the 900 block of Franklin Street, a Goldsboro police report said.
The resident, Dale Lee Johnson, confronted the thief as he came home, and the suspect fled north on a bicycle. The thief was described as black, about 25 years old, 6-feet and 125 pounds with a skinny build. Johnson put a $50 value on the earrings and set damage at $25.
Wayne County law-enforcement officers also are investigating these reports:
*Jewelry, valued at $1,055, was stolen from a room at the Holiday Inn Express at 909 N. Spence Ave., Goldsboro police said. Bonnie Combs of Pensacola, Fla., reported the theft of a pearl necklace and earrings, a diamond tennis bracelet, a black gold chain with diamonds and other items.
*A generator, a socket set and two sanders were stolen from a barn in the 200 block of Cassedale Drive, sheriff's deputies said. The resident, Tommy Nelson Tillman, put a $2,350 value on his property.
*A riding lawn mower was stolen from the 2900 block of N.C. 581 North, deputies said. The resident, A.M. Davis, said the mower was worth $962.
Pack house fire
An old pack house at 139 Clyde's Lane, off Sandhill Drive, was destroyed Monday night in a fire of an undetermined cause.
"It was already on the ground when we got there," Mar Mac Volunteer Fire Chief Bill Harrell said. "We let it burn and then cleaned it up."
Harrell said he thought the building had been on fire for a while because no nearby residents were home to notify authorities.
The building was owned by Cedric Southerland.
Fourteen Mar Mac volunteers answered the 11 p.m. call with three trucks. Thoroughfare assisted with three trucks.