8 years given in burglary, theft charges
Mar. 28—A Cumberland County man facing a host of theft charges, along with drunk driving and burglary charges, pled guilty in Criminal Court and received an eight-year sentence as a multiple offender.
James E. Carter Jr., 44, was charged with three counts of theft of merchandise of up to $1,000, felony possession of meth with intent, burglary, two counts of theft of property of $2,500 to $10,000, simple possession of marijuana, simple possession and driving under the influence.
Carter pled guilty to theft of property of more than $2,500 occurring on Feb. 18, 2020, driving under the influence occurring on July 6, 2021, burglary occurring on Feb. 18, 2020 and theft of more than $1,000 occurring on Jan. 29, 2020.
Carter received a total of eight years to serve at 35% as a Range II multiple offender.
In addition, Carter is to pay $4,330 restitution to one victim, $147 to another and $925 to a third victim. All remaining charges were dropped.
In other cases on the docket, the following took place:
—Patrick Breeding, 41, charged with misdemeanor violation of an order of protection; pleaded guilty to attempted violation of an order of protection occurring on Jan. 8, 2020, and received a five-month and 29-day suspended and unsupervised probation. Breeding is also to pay clerk's fee.
—David Edward Dion, 30, charged with aggravated assault, evading arrest, theft of property of $1,000 to $2,500 and driving on a suspended license; pled guilty to aggravated assault and evading arrest and received a three-year sentence to be served at 30% as a Range I offender. Remaining charges were dropped, and Dion is to pay restitution, if any. The charges stem from an Aug. 4, 2021 incident during which three burglary suspects fled into Cumberland from Roane County in a stolen vehicle. The aggravated assault charge is a result of Dion swerving toward a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy during the pursuit.
—Charles Henry Higginbotham, 46, charged with aggravated assault and domestic assault; pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and received an 11-month and 29-day suspended sentence to be served on unsupervised probation. Court costs were waived, aggravated assault charge was dropped and Higginbotham is banned from contact with the victim. The incident occurred on July 30, 2020, and was investigated by Fairfield Glade Police Department.
—Gary Timothy Lawler, also known as Loller, 51, charged with community supervision violation; pled guilty to the charge and received a 30-day jail sentence at 75%. The charge stems from a failure to comply with community supervision for life terms and conditions investigated by Crossville Police Department in December 2019.
—Curtis Ross Lowery, 40, charged with vehicular assault; pled guilty to reckless endangerment and received an 11-month and 29-day suspended sentence to be served on supervised probation. The charge stems from an August 2018, incident involving Lowery's wife who has not cooperated with prosecution of the case. A blood analysis is not available in the case.
—Steven Lance Marshall, 60, charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and failure to render aid at an injury crash; pled guilty to reckless endangerment and received an 11-month and 29-day suspended sentence to be served on supervised probation. Marshall is banned from contact with the victim. The incident in the area of Peavine Rd. and Stone Loop during which an altercation took place and resulted in a vehicle crashing into a motorcycle on Oct. 22, 2017, and investigated by Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.
—Wilden Venicio Perez-Garcia, 32, charged with four counts of aggravated assault; pled guilty to two counts of aggravated assault as a Range 1 offender and received a four-year split sentence with the first year to be served in jail and the remaining three years on supervised probation. Garcia is banned from contact with victims, and an order of protection was issued. The incident occurred on June 1, 2021, and was investigated by CPD.
—Joshua Lennon Simmons, 25, charged with aggravated assault; pled guilty to the charge and received a four-year suspended sentence to be served on supervised probation under terms and conditions of judicial diversion. Simmons was fined $100 and is to pay clerk's fee. The incident took place on Dec. 2, 2020, and was investigated by the CCSO.
—Micha Lee Brown, 33, pled guilty to an information charging possession of a weapon by a felon and received a two-year suspended sentence to be served on supervised probation with forfeiture of the weapon. The charge stems from a Feb. 17, 2020, traffic stop by CPD.
Michael Moser may be reached at mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com
