Shelby County Today

June 21, 2021 - Multiple agencies from Texas and Louisiana joined forces to apprehend a wanted fugitive in the Timpson area Thursday, June 17, 2021.

According to Josh Tipton, Constable Precinct 5, he received an anonymous tip on the location of Charles Seth Alexander, 32, of Timpson, who was wanted on several warrants out of Nacogdoches County.
 
Constable Tipton reports surveillance of Alexander's location was initiated around 8:30am Thursday and he coordinated with Roy Cheatwood, Constable Precinct 3, to seek the assistance of DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Department in supplying a drone for aerial observation of the suspect location. 

The drone helped confirm activity on the property and Constable Tipton then continued surveillance in an unmarked vehicle from which he witnessed Alexander operating a tractor on the property.

From the command post established by the officers, they continued to observe Alexander until Tim Barton, Garrison Police Chief arrived with his K9 Madox to assist. Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Department investigators were also called to the scene.

As Alexander was exiting the property where he had been located, on the tractor he was operating, Constable Tipton and Chief Barton began to follow Alexander with intent to stop him and place him in custody; however, Alexander drove the tractor through a gate and exited the tractor, leaving it running.

Unaware of the direction Alexander fled in, Chief Barton Deployed K9 Madox who quickly tracked and located Alexander with ease. Alexander was located in a wooded area, and was laying down where officers wouldn't have been able to have located him as easily, and might have even missed him.

Officers report how invaluable K9 Madox was in locating the suspect quickly and safely.

"The dog alerted where he was, and therefore we were able to apprehend the suspect, Seth Alexander," said Constable Tipton.

After Alexander was located, Nacogdoches County investigators then took custody of Alexander and transported him to Nacogdoches.

According to Nacogdoches County Jail booking information, Alexander was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by felon, felony 3; theft of property >$2,500 <$30,000, state jail felony; burglary of a building, state jail felony; unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, state jail felony; criminal trespass, misdemeanor b; theft of property >$100 <$750, misdemeanor b; warrant - other: magistrate, misdemeanor a.

Constable Tipton offered a special thank you to Constable 3 Roy Cheatwood, Tim Barton Garrison Police Department K9 Unit, DeSoto Parish, Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Department investigators, and the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

Chief Tim Barton is seen with K9 Madox as he gives commands to his suspect (Dillon Cook - training decoy) to surrender.

In light of the obvious effectiveness of K9 Madox in apprehending Alexander, Shelby County Today arranged to meet with Chief Barton and Madox during a K9 training event in Garrison. 

On that day, they were training with K9 Trainer Tony Villalobos, Jon Randolph, Mt. Enterprise City Marshal and his K9 Vana; and Dillon Cook, training decoy.

To insure K9 officers are always at the height of their effectiveness in helping protect the community, K9 handlers train with their dogs a minimum of four hours a week, but more often than not they train everyday.

"We try to make the situations and everything as real as possible, what they face out in the street," said Tony Villalobos, K9 trainer.

Villalobos explained criminals try and mask their illegal substances in a variety of ways, but that just seems to peak the K9's interest even more because they can still smell the substances they've been trained to locate.

"All it does is it attracts more attention to the dog," said Villalobos.

As K9 Madox is working to apprehend his suspect, Chief Barton is seen in the background giving him commands.

The training team traveled to different areas in and around Garrison to train on locating and apprehension. In a wooded area, Dillon Cook was the decoy for apprehension training and he donned a full body protective suit to prevent injury from dog bites, and allow the K9s to practice. In the instance of the apprehension of Alexander, K9 Madox didn't have to bite because he complied and came out of his hiding place. 

As the dogs trailed Cook through the woods where he was hiding, it was remarkable how quickly Madox and Vana were able to move in individually on their suspect with magnetic like force until they reached their target.

Each with their handler in tow, they advanced, and when their subject did not comply or fought, they would bite and pull down the suspect until he would comply. In addition to their training, throughout the altercation their handler is in constant communication giving them and the suspect commands.

Chief Barton explained Madox was purchased from Signal K9 LLC, with the funding being split initially between the city of Garrison and the police department seizure fund.

"He's seized narcotics and assisted in federal cases and assisted other agencies," said Chief Barton

Mt. Enterprise City Marshal Jon Randolph and K9 Vana have located their suspect in an abandoned building.

After that the Nacogdoches County District Attorney's office relieved the pressure on both accounts by providing the funds for the K9, which returned those funds to the police department and city.

"We have a forfeiture account and we reimbursed the City of Garrison and the Garrison PD," said Andrew Jones, Nacogdoches County District Attorney. "[Those funds] need to go to law enforcement purposes, and I have a hard time thinking of anything better than a K9."

DA Jones said he appreciates Chief Tim Barton and all he has done.

Chief Barton observes as K9 Madox searches a local feed store, one of the locations where the K9s recently trained.

June 17, 2021 - The Center Police Department has confirmed they responded to a bomb threat at the Ace Hardware located at the intersection of U.S. 96 South and Loop 500 on June 10, 2021.

Detective Sgt. Ricky King, Street Crimes Division, states the initial threat was believed to have been made by a woman and an employee of the store was able to retrieve the number of the caller for the officers from Caller ID.

"Our investigation concluded that it was a child, prank calling random numbers," said Det. Sgt. King. "We've tracked down where the call came from."

Barksdale Air Force Base K9 officers assisted the Center Police Department in helping to determine the facility was clear of any threat.

Det. Sgt. King stated how much the Center Police Department really appreciates Barksdale Air Force Base sending out the officers to assist them in determining the location was safe, and the assistance of the fire department as well as the Sheriff's Depaqrtment.

"The quick response, and agencies working together, made that as painless as possible," said King.

June 10, 2021 - The Center Police Department is investigating a bomb threat at the Ace Hardware store located on Loop 500 at U.S. 96 South in Center June 10, 2021.

Employees were evacuated from the building and police officers are actively working to determine the threat.

Military Police K9 officers, which usually respond to bomb threats, were at the scene and went inside of the building at around 4:15pm. They completed their search inside at around 6pm and then mov to search another building located behind.

The search has been completed at this time and nothing of a threatening nature was located. The business is expected to be open again tomorrow during normal business hours.

Early on, traffic traveling north on U.S. 96 North was being diverted onto the loop and not allowed to travel into town via U.S. 96, but has since been allowed once again.

The Center Fire Department and Shelby County Sheriff’s Department were on scene assisting the Center Police Department.

Additional information will be updated as it’s made available. 

June 16, 2021 - The Timpson City Council moved for the City Secretary to take on the duties of Timpson Volunteer Fire Department (TVFD) duties during their meeting Tuesday, June 15, 2021, regarding donations to the fire department.

Many members of the fire department were present for the meeting and Tuffy Green, Timpson Volunteer Fire Chief, had mainly one question for Mayor Debra Smith and the council.

Chief Green asked, "How did this get brought up to an agenda without anybody notifying the chief, knowing this was going to be put on the city council?"

He stated if the issue had to do with deposits, some had been made late; however, he explained that is due to the TVFD Secretary, his wife, being ill. Chief Green said he, in response, returned the responsibility to Pete Andrews, the fire department Treasurer.

"He's going to be taking care of all checks, everything will be deposited into our accounts," said Chief Green.

Mayor Smith said she had spoken to Cary Bovey, City Attorney, and the outside auditor, Frank Campos.

"This is not a reflection of any wrongdoing, or anything, there's been no accusations or anything saying that we've, you know, something's been mishandled. This is simply an audit note that checks were not being deposited in the same month they were being received," said Mayor Smith. "Any irregularity handling of money will get brought by the auditor, as he stood up and said the other day that's something that they audit for is irregularities and things like that."

Mayor Smith said the outside auditors aren't criminal auditors and she's not saying there's anything criminal that's been done, and she doesn't want anyone to think the city representatives think anything wrong has been done with fire department funds.

Smith then gave a response to Chief Green's initial question about why the fire department wasn't notified of the proposed change being put before the council. 

"I assumed that there was something delaying this, I did not know your wife was ill until Kenny [Walker] told me she had not been at a couple of meetings, and then I think somebody else, Misty [Burgess] or Paula [Mullins] said that they thought she had been taken to the hospital. So I pretty much assumed something was going on that was delaying it that made sense, but at the same time we have to make sure that everything's done so that the city when we get audited, we get a clean bill of our audits.

"So when Misty started looking at the reconciliations, she noticed that there were deposits from, like a February check wouldn't get deposited until April, or something like that, and the auditor said that's not supposed to happen."

Mayor Smith further stated, after meeting with Campos, it was added to the agenda to have the checks brought or mailed to the city office. She explained reports would still be provided to the fire department for their meetings.

Smith explained the city secretary is paid to make deposits, write checks and work on the city books already because that's her job.

"I would just say, as volunteers, take that off of your plate and not worry about it and let her do it, and she'll send you an email," said Mayor Smith.

Mayor Smith did ask Chief Green if he had checks from Timpson Rural Water Department from April and May, he said they should be deposited and she said they are not. He said they may be in the post office and he did not have a key.

According to Smith, checks from the Timpson Rural Water Supply for April and May were mailed to the fire department; however, they have not been deposited.

Council member Tiffany Collins asked if the checks had been cashed, and Mayor Smith said she didn't want to raise any "red flags."

"Because I did not think there was anything wrong, I did not want to cause a red flag and I did not ask Mr. Askins, and I don't think Misty asked Mr. Askins if they had been cashed . All we wanted to know was, had he mailed them," said Mayor Smith.

Chief Green clarified no one could cash the checks because they're made out to the Timpson Volunteer Fire Department.

A motion carried to allow Misty Burgess, Debra Smith, and Paula Mullins to handle both income and expense transactions for the Timpson Volunteer Fire Department.

Earlier in the meeting Marilyn Corder updated the council on plans for Frontier Days this year, including there won't be a carnival this year since the company that usually has provided the service sold out. 

"We're going to have Frontier Day one day this time, and it's going to be on the 3rd of July. We will have gospel singing the 2nd of July at the First Baptist Church, Friday evening," said Corder. "We have no carnival anymore, the guy sold out, so we are looking for a carnival to replace him," said Corder.

Corder explained there will be some activities for children that will have no charge.

A band is planned to perform in the evening and the annual cake auction is also scheduled.

A motion carried to approve a donation of a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, formerly of the Timpson Police Department, to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department and to sell a 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe, also formerly of the Timpson police Department, to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department for $37,082.17.

"Last month, or the month before we talked about doing something with the vehicles that had been utilized by the police department in the past and it was suggested that we donate the older one to the sheriff's department, which I believe is going to go to the constable, but basically they get donated to the county and distributed to their department as they see fit," said Mayor Smith. "I talked to Judge [Allison] Harbison and she said that yes the constable's office does need one."

Mayor Smith said she spoke with Judge Harbison about the 2019 model Tahoe and she noted the agenda for the upcoming commissioners' court meeting has the county paying the $37,082.17, which is $15,000 over what the city of Timpson owes for the vehicle.

Agenda items approved during the meeting include:

1.Consent Agenda:  

A. Consider approval of the Minutes from the Regular Meeting held on May 18,
2021
B. Consider approval of Financial Statement for the month of  May 2021
C. Consider approval of Accounts Payable for the month of May 2021
D. Bids on delinquent property taxes from Shelby County Cad and Linebarger.

2. Donate the 2013 Tahoe (VIN# 1GNLC2E00DR214715) to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and to sell the 2019 Tahoe (VIN # 1GNLCDEC6KR330097) to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department for the amount $37,082.17 ($15,000 to General budget and $22,082.17 to Austin bank to pay off to pay off the loan). Both vehicles are being sold as is, and all police markings and decals will be removed at Shelby County’s expense.

3. Rate renewal rate for the TML insurance premium for city employees. The current rate per month/per employee is $622.82 and the new rate, effective October 1, will be $568.88 This is a decrease of $23.96 (8.66%) per employee.

4. Allow Misty Burgess, Debra Smith, and Paula Mullins to handle both income and expense transactions for the Timpson Volunteer Fire Department.

5. Adjourn.  

June 14, 2021 - The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has received a report of a new scam that is circulating in our area.

The caller is stating he is with the Lions Club International Grant Fund. The caller will tell you that you have won a large sum of money but in order to obtain it, you will be required to pay a fee upfront for the transfer to take place. In order to complete the transfer, you are required to send money through prepaid debit cards, Google Play cards, etc.

This is a scam. Do not play into this. You will lose your money!

The scam is circulating by telephone and through Facebook messenger. If you are contacted through Facebook messenger, the account the message is being sent from has been hacked.

Unfortunately, the SCSO has no way of tracking the individual(s) who are doing this. Please be wise and do not give them your banking information, credit cards numbers or any personal identifiers.

Make sure your family, friends and especially the elderly are aware of this scam. If you have any questions, please contact our office at 936-598-5601.