Crime

Murder suspect turned himself in, police say

Submitted by Alison Hill, Community Web Producer

Monday, January 23rd, 2012, 11:11am

Murder suspect turned himself in, police say

SHELBY - The suspect wanted for murdering a man Friday night turned himself in Monday morning, Shelby Police told WBTV.

Terrence Montreal Norris, 25, of the 2000 block of Melrose Drive in Shelby turned himself in to the Cleveland County Magistrate's Office just after 10:30 a.m., said police.

According to Shelby Police, officers responded to a shooting at a home in the 200 block of Morrison Street around 11:30 p.m.

View Comments | Post a Comment

Jury hears statements stepfather gave when toddler died

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff

Friday, January 20th, 2012, 8:00pm

SHELBY, NC (WBTV) - Prosecutors in the Jeremiah Swafford murder trial played the jury several statements that the boy's stepfather originally told police in 2009.

Jeremiah's mother and stepfather, Kathy Swafford and Dwight Justice are charged with murder.

The autopsy report said Swafford died from massive head trauma.

On Friday the jury heard the statement Justice gave to local police officers in the hospital when Jeremiah was first taken.

Justice says he took his older son to school and checked on Jeremiah before he left, who was awake in bed. When he came back, he checked on him again.

Justice then fell asleep in the chair while watching TV. He was woken up by his wife screaming that Jeremiah wasn't breathing "He's dead, he's dead."

View Comments | Post a Comment

Cops: Ex-boyfriend beat woman with belt, doused her in cooking oil in front of kids

Submitted by Chris Dyches

Friday, January 20th, 2012, 7:20pm

SHELBY, NC (WBTV) - Police in Shelby have issued an arrest warrant for a man accused of beating his ex-girlfriend with a belt, dousing her with cooking oil during an attack in front of the woman's two children.

According to a Shelby Police report, officers were called to the emergency room at the Cleveland Regional Medical Center on Thursday night at 9:48 p.m. to the report of an assault.

When officers arrived, they spoke to a 22-year-old woman who told officers that she had just been attacked by her ex-boyfriend in their 1300 block of North Lafayette Street home.

The woman told officers that she had just broken off a multi-year relationship with her boyfriend, Ryan O`Keith Campbell, and was attacked a short time later.

According to the report, the pair had talked about breaking-off their relationship after at least four years and she felt that the "separation was a mutual agreement."

View Comments | Post a Comment

Two men arrested in string of robberies, police say

Submitted by Nick Needham on Tuesday, January 17th, 6:23 pm

KINGS MOUNTAIN, NC (WBTV) - On Tuesday at 4:17 a.m., the Kings Mountain Police Department received a call in reference to an armed robbery that had just occurred at the One Stop located at 2120 Shelby Road in the city limits of Kings Mountain.

Two white males entered the Store and one displayed a revolver handgun. Suspect #1 was described as a white male in his 20’s wearing a red shirt with blue jeans and light colored brown boots. The second suspect was a white male described as also being in his 20’s wearing a black leather type jacket with yellow sleeves and writing on the back of the jacket. He was wearing black tennis shoes.

The vehicle was described as being a newer model small black compact car with 4 doors. The two suspects left in the black car and travelled East on highway 74 bypass towards Gastonia.

No injuries occurred at the incident.

View Comments | Post a Comment

New law helping fight record number of meth labs, Attorney General says

Submitted by Chris Dyches

Thursday, January 12th, 2012, 12:36pm

NORTH CAROLINA - A new law to help fight methamphetamine labs has already stopped more than 1,600 illegal purchases of the key ingredient needed to make the drug, Attorney General Roy Cooper said today.

Under the new law, which took effect January 1, North Carolina pharmacies are using an electronic tracking system to log all purchases of products containing pseudoephedrine, found in common cold remedies and the key ingredient needed to make meth. State Bureau of Investigation agents and other officers can analyze information from the tracking system to help identify potential suspects based on repeated attempts to make illegal buys.

“We’re making it more difficult for criminals to get the ingredients they need to make meth, and easier for law enforcement to find them and shut down their dangerous labs,” Cooper said.

View Comments | Post a Comment

Deputies arrest two in meth lab bust

Submitted by Nick Needham on Friday, December 30th, 5:20 pm

SHELBY, NC (WBTV) - Two people were arrested at a Shelby home Thursday night after deputies found a methamphetamine lab at the residence.

Johnathan Gerald Self, 37, and Brandy Lesheay Blanton, 19, were arrested and charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine precursors, according to the arrest reports from the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies obtained search warrants to search the home at 102 Serro Court in Shelby at 11:10 p.m. Thursday.

After discovering the meth lab, Self and Blanton were arrested on site.

Self was placed in the Cleveland County Jail with no bond.

Blanton's bond was set at $50,000.

View Comments | Post a Comment

Cover Story: Cost of drunk driving

Submitted by Jeff Atkinson on Friday, December 30th, 10:28 am

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Doctors and emergency room workers are bracing for what could be one of the busiest weekends of the year.

New Year's Eve is typically loaded with alcohol-related deaths and injuries. And the upcoming celebration could be worse than most years because it falls on a Saturday.

Last year, with December 31st on a Friday, some emergency rooms across the country saw a roughly 50-percent increase in New Year's patients.

The TV ads grab your attention. Out with friends, had too much to drink and you don't see the eyes that are watching you.

The message of the invisible cop.

"They'll see you before you see them. Cops are cracking down on drinking and driving. Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over," the ad says.

It's a $7 million holiday ad campaign undertaken by NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

View Comments | Post a Comment