January 24, 2008 02:44 pm
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A former Crossville man was arrested last week on a grand jury indictment charging 16 felony counts of vandalism relating to a crime spree in November. A juvenile suspect recently appeared in Juvenile Court, pleaded guilty and was released to the custody of his father who lives in North Carolina. The juvenile was ordered to pay restitution to the tune of $50 a week.
Joshua Arron Fry, 19, 619 Pedro Rd., Clarkrange, a former Brookhaven subdivision resident, was nabbed in Cumberland County General Sessions Court on Thursday where he had appeared on an unrelated charge, according to Sheriff's Investigator Ben Waller. He was indicted by the grand jury on Jan. 8 and authorities have been looking for him since that time.
"We thought he may have skipped out but he was spotted in Sessions Court last week and we served the warrant on him," said Waller.
Crossville Police and Cumberland County sheriff's deputies were called to the scene of a total of 28 known incidents during which a high-powered BB gun or pellet gun was used to shoot out store front windows and vehicle windows.
Fry and the juvenile were first identified as suspects in the vandalism spree when MPtl. Brian Eckelson spotted a brown van matching the description of a vehicle seen during one of the incidents and stopped the vehicle.
Crossville Police Investigator Gene Hall said that 14 of the 16 felony counts returned by the grand jury took place in the city and nearly a dozen misdemeanor complaints were reported by city officers. The county had six cases, two of which were felony and the rest misdemeanor, Waller confirmed.
He said for the purpose of prosecution, only felony cases were presented to the grand jury. However, restitution is expected to include damages in all the cases including misdemeanors.
Hall said it is his understanding that restitution will be made only on losses not covered by insurance, according to court action earlier. It will be years before all the damages are paid, he added.
Fry was placed under $26,000 bond and is to appear in Criminal Court Friday for arraignment.
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