Macon election office assesses damage in emergency meeting
After discovering $50,000 worth of unauthorized checks had disappeared from its budget and placing director Kim Bishop on paid investigatory leave, the Macon County Board of Elections is now trying to regain its footing.
SBI probes embezzlement allegations at Macon County Board of Elections
By Holly Kays & Becky Johnson • Staff writers
An embezzlement investigation at the Macon County Board of Elections locked down the office for nearly a week between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23, but business is far from returning to usual.
Jailer’s love saga comes full circle
Who knows what Anita Vestal saw in Jeffrey Miles, or why she sprang him from jail and ran away with him, or how she justified leaving her husband and four young children behind, possibly forever.
Jury deliberating fate of jailer who helped murderer escape
The jury deciding the fate of a former Swain County jailer who helped a murderer escape and then ran away with him to California began deliberating Tuesday morning (Dec. 3).
UPDATED: Undercover bust targets dealers in every corner of the county
An undercover investigation in Haywood County targeting alleged drug dealers culminated in a sweeping roundup last month, netting 31 suspects with 114 charges in all.
The how-to of a jail break
It was a fairly simple inside job in the end, one easily borrowed from the playbook of any Hollywood jailbreak.
Anita Vestal was just a novice jailer, with less than six months on the job at the Swain County jail. But she single-handedly sprang an inmate charged in a bloodbath of a double murder.
Awaiting her fate: Jailer helped murder suspect escape jail, fled with him to California
The jury trial of a Swain County jailer accused of springing a murderer from jail more than four years ago will conclude next week with a certain guilty verdict.
Razing the sweepstakes: Police handcuffed in latest standoff with successor of video gambling
Sweepstakes-style video gambling is making bold forays into the rural communities of Western North Carolina, back for yet another skirmish in the decade-long war against the betting devices.
State lawmakers have tried to ban them. Police have tried to bust them. Judges have tried to reprimand them.
Pipe bomb suspect claims he was being a good Samaritan
Waynesville police discovered a homemade pipe bomb in the bed of a pickup truck in the early hours of the morning Sunday.
A wild, fast motorcycle pursuit to nab a low-level criminal: is it worth the risk?
When it comes to a high-speed chase, law enforcement must constantly ask the question: is it worth it?
A 23-year-old Franklin man took police on a chase through Macon County in August reaching speeds of nearly 125 miles per hour. The chase took off after a deputy tried to pull David Ridao over for going 74 miles per hour in a 55-mile zone on U.S. 64.
