TENNESSEE NEWS

Jury selection begins in Maryville trial Jury selection in the trial of a nurse from Maryville whose accused of substituting water for patients morphine, began on Thursday, in Blount County. Stacey Lee was fired in 2002 after the nursing home she worked in became suspicious of her injections she gave to a 90-year-old patient, Edna Graves. The family of the patient became suspicious also when Graves didn’t seem to ever be out of pain. According to the family they would ask for medication, but staff would tell her they had just given her an injection and it would be so many hours before she could have another one. The family believes that Lee would steal Graves’ medicine and substitute it for water. Lee was fired in January 2002 and also arrested. Graves died tow months later of a heart attack. Thieves have stunning day while sleeping Police in McMinn County arrested two men in Athens and charged them with armed robbery, evading arrest, theft, criminal impersonation, unlawful possession of a weapon and some other charges. Robert Bell and Patrick Ellswood robbed a convenience store and then took off in a stolen SUV. The police chased them until they crashed, Ellswood was subdued after a struggle with a Taser gun, but Bell stole the police car and took off again, eventually wrecking the car. Deputies went searching for Bell, until a woman came up to them and reported that someone that smelled like alcohol had broken into her house and was sleeping on her couch. The police went to the home and found Bell napping on the sofa and arrested him. Former gang member pleads guilty A former gang member that has had several run ins with the law pled guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a loaded gun and possession of crack cocaine. The convictions just add to the list of crimes on the record of Nilante Wallace, 26, who faces 40 years in prison for the latest in his spree. Wallace also has convictions for slaying a teenager. He admitted he had a loaded gun in his possession when he allegedly attacked a St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center security guard in an incident in April. He also admitted to selling crack to a confidential informant that was being monitored by authorities. Boy in trunk report a hoax A woman in Bristol that reported she saw a woman shut a young boy in the trunk of her car has come forward and admitted the whole thing was a hoax. According to reports, Lisa Marie Reed, 30, of Bristol recanted the report and told police what she really saw was a woman yelling at a boy that was in the back seat of a hatchback vehicle. Reed also gave police a bogus description of the initial vehicle. Police don’t have a motive for the false report, which can carry a sentence of two to four years in prison. Another East Tennessee man arrested for sex with a minor A McMinn County man has been arrested for taking a trip to Thailand to have sex with a minor. Gregory Alec Phillips is charged with engaging in illicit sexual contact in foreign places after he returned to the states from the Far East. According to reports Phillips went to Thailand to have sex with a 13-year-old boy. Another East Tennessee man pled guilty to similar charges after he admitted to going on an organized trip to Thailand to have sex with a minor. Newspaper ad executive charged A Nashville weekly newspapers ad executive has been charged with promoting prostitution for ads in connection with adult ads he accepted and coordinated. A grand jury indicted Nile Noseworthy of the Nashville Scene following an investigation that lasted for more than a year. Part of the investigation included undercover police placing ads in the paper after making it clear to Noseworthy they were prostitute related. The police also filed charges against 25 people for prostitution in connection with the ads. The publication claims the charges are in retaliation for the paper running a critical article about the police chief’s son.