In the midst of an ongoing investigation into possible fraud in the the city of Asheville’s flexible-spending program, Assistant City Manager Jeff Richardson is taking over the Human Resources Department, and will audit the program monthly until it can find a third-party administrator.
A city spokesperson confirms that Asheville City Council members and the mayor were eligible for a flexible spending program that’s now the target of a fraud investigation, but refuses to reveal which elected officials actually participated. The Asheville Police Department has also issued a statement, and says the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office and SBI are assisting in the ongoing probe.
What happens when allegations of serious crimes go public via social-media? Asheville grappled with that complicated question this week, and the answers are still coming in.
Lewis Kyle Wilson, an Asheville man charged with kidnapping and brutally assaulting a prostitute, has plead guilty to lesser assault and drug charges.
The Asheville Police Department has charged Marcus Austin Thorpe, 17, with first-degree murder in the Sept. 12 shooting in Hillcrest Apartments that left one man dead and one woman injured. Thorpe is still at large, and considered armed and dangerous. ***UPDATE: Suspect has turned himself in, says APD***
A woman was stabbed and killed on Sunday, Aug. 16, in the Montford community. Click here to download a PDF of the Asheville Police Department report of the incident.
Asheville police charged Charles Alexander Diez, an Asheville firefighter since 1992, with attempted first-degree murder after he allegedly fired on cyclist Alan Simons with a .38 caliber handgun on July 26. The bullet ripped through the lining of Simons’ helmet and, according to police, came within less than an inch of striking him in the […]
Behind a table strewn with confiscated weapons—including assault rifles—local law-enforcement officials announced on June 11 a series of arrests and jail time that they say have decimated local Crips gangs operating out of Lee Walker Heights and Klondyke Apartments, with 24 of 37 known members behind bars and gun violence in the area down. “Swinging […]
Asheville resident William Kevin Innes, regional currency officer for Liberty Services, was arrested June 2 on charges of trying to pass off the privately minted Liberty Dollars as U.S. currency. The arrest came as part of a nationwide sweep of the organization’s officials. Silver anniversary: William Kevin Innes of Liberty Services’ Asheville office in 2007. […]
These reports from the Asheville Police Department include all the incidents the APD qualified as “gang related” from July to November 2008, ranging from fraud and vandalism to burglary and armed robbery. Click here to see reports from July 2008. Click here to see reports from August 2008. Click here to see reports from September […]
It no doubt came as a shock to many a passerby to see the iconic Flat Iron sculpture, which sits at the intersection of Wall Street and Battery Park Avenue in downtown Asheville, torn six feet off its base on Feb. 28. Just a bit of a wrinkle: The famous Flat Iron sculpture at the […]
Speaking to Xpress at the Buncombe County Detention Facility on Feb. 27, Lewis Kyle Wilson asserted his innocence in the face of charges of brutally assaulting and kidnapping a prostitute last November. Police have also named Wilson a “person of interest” in an unsolved 2006 murder and two other prostitute assaults in Asheville’s Riverside area. […]
Speaking to Xpress at the Buncombe County Detention Facility on Feb. 27, Lewis Kyle Wilson asserted his innocence against charges of brutally assaulting and kidnapping a prostitute last November. Wilson has also been named a “person of interest” in an unsolved 2006 murder and two other prostitute assaults in Asheville’s Riverside area.
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of grisly crimes. Mountain Xpress doesn’t generally report such stories, but we felt that the brutal nature of the crimes, the depth of community concern and the larger issues raised justified doing so in this case. Although much of the material quoted here is public record, we’ve also […]
Asheville resident Lewis Kyle Wilson, charged with the brutal assault and kidnapping of a prostitute, has been dubbed a “person of interest” in a 2006 murder and several similar attacks. Search warrants reveal details about this case, while people who know him shine light on community reactions. Warning: this material is extremely graphic.
Police warn of pair of law-enforcement impersonators
Is downtown Asheville becoming more dangerous? The answer seems to depend on whom you ask. Holding steady: Violent crime downtown is not on the rise, Patrol Lt. Wally Welch asserts. photo by Jonathan Welch Downtown resident Naydeehn Messier has no doubt about it. “I definitely feel as though it’s getting worse,” says Messier, co-founder of […]
A reader’s call-in question led Xpress from plastics to thieves this week. At the start, we set out to find out why some plastic can be recycled and some can’t. We got an answer but then stumbled upon a perplexing trend in the world of recycling: thieves who’ll snatch up aluminum cans, washers and dryers, […]
In a change of budget and policy, the state will now provide payment for the costs of rape kit exams, which were previously billed to victims.
It was just after midnight on July 6, and the man was walking toward LaRue’s Backdoor, a side bar located inside O Henry’s, Asheville’s (and the state’s) oldest gay bar. According to the police report, he was approached by two black males in their mid-20s who, after asking him where he was going, began punching […]
The Asheville Police Department is joining the Buncombe County Anti-Crime Team, Chief Bill Hogan and Sheriff Van Duncan announced July 7. In 2004, the APD pulled out of the Metropolitan Enforcement Group, a joint antidrug task force involving the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department and other local law-enforcement agencies. At the time, APD officials said that […]
