California man charged with theft

June 5, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

A California man has been charged with a recent theft.

43-year-old Benjamin James Einfeldt of Fresno California is charged with theft of property. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court June 12.

Sheriff Ray said that on June 1 a deputy was dispatched to Dale Ridge Road on an unwanted guest complaint. Upon arrival the officer spoke with the victim who reported that he lived at the residence with the owner and his son, Einfeldt. According to the victim, he and Einfeldt began arguing after Einfeldt tried to destroy the house. The victim further stated that Einfeldt carried a handgun everywhere he went. The deputy confronted Einfeldt behind the house and asked about the gun. Einfeldt said the weapon was on the truck bed. A background check of the serial number revealed that the gun had been reported stolen in Cumberland County, Tennessee. Einfeldt was placed under arrest.

37 year old Wesley Hall Scott of McMinnville is charged with evading arrest in a motor vehicle, a 5th offense of driving on a revoked or suspended license, and reckless endangerment. His bond totals $20,000

Sheriff Ray said that on September 9, 2024 a deputy was patrolling Sparta Highway when he spotted a black motorcycle without a license plate. The officer activated his blue lights and sirens signaling for the bike to pull over but instead it sped up and crossed the double yellow line in curves almost hitting other automobiles head on. As the motorcycle crossed into White County the deputy terminated the pursuit and radioed the White County Sheriff’s Department. Later the White County notified the DeKalb officer that the motorcycle operator had ditched the bike and took off on foot. The local deputy assisted the White County officers in searching for Scott and he was found hiding in the woods. When asked why he ran, Scott said because he was on probation and he did not have a driver license. A background check of his license confirmed they were revoked with four prior offenses.

62-year-old Johnny Michael Howard of Billings Road, Sparta is charged with aggravated criminal trespassing and possession of a handgun while under the influence. He is under an $11,000 bond and his court date is June 26.

Sheriff Ray said that on June 2 a deputy was dispatched to Howard Redmon Road to assist EMS where a man and woman had gotten into an altercation. The officer spoke with the man, Howard who smelled of alcohol. His eyes were bloodshot and watery. Howard said he had been drinking. The deputy found a 38-caliber special revolver on his person and learned that Howard had gone onto the property at Howard Redmon Road without consent which caused Howard and the homeowner, 54-year-old Cassandra Lynn Dykstra to get into an altercation.

During the incident Dykstra assaulted and EMT. Her bond for assaulting a first responder is $10,000 and she will be in court June 26.

Sheriff Ray said that while speaking with EMS workers, the deputy called to the scene learned that Dykstra and Howard man had gotten into a physical altercation and that as an EMT tried to get in between them the EMT was assaulted by Dykstra injuring her left wrist.

June 5, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

New numbers are in on cost estimates for building a jail.

In April, the county commission voted to ask Treanor Architects and Bell Construction to come up with cost estimates to build a new jail complex at the current site on the public square as well as on a generic green space location. The commission also wanted to know what the jail footprint and cost would look like if the county were able to purchase the additional half acre lot adjoining the jail on the east side.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, the budget committee discussed new information just provided by Bell Construction. When comparing the 152 bed versus 200 bed options, Bell concluded that jail construction on a new site would be from $8.6 million to $9.3 million cheaper. No cost numbers were apparently provided on the existing county property and the adjoining lot not owned by the county

According to Rick Bruining of Bell Construction the pricing recap for the four scenarios on the DeKalb Jail Project are as follows:

*New site: 152 beds: $28,200,000
*New site: 200 beds: $34,500,000

*Existing site: 152 beds: $36,800,000
*Existing site:200 beds: $43,800,000

According to Jail Committee Chairman Larry Green, a new jail on the existing site would be a two-story structure as opposed to a one level building at a new location. More employees might also be needed to staff a two-level jail to meet state requirements.

County Mayor Matt Adcock said the Bell proposal for the existing site makes use of the property the county already owns leaving an option for future expansion on an adjoining lot the county currently does not own.

“I believe it (new jail footprint) would incorporate everything we have (own) and that (new) pod would set right beside the (current) jail where the impound lot and grass are to the left of the jail. He said the piece of property that Diane Kirby owns that was in question would be the perfect spot to expand if you wanted to make another addition to that pod,” said County Mayor Adcock.

“And the logistics of it too is if we build downtown with a new inmate facility, we will then go back and take the existing jail and build the administration part in there. I don’t know where the sheriff’s administration would go in the meantime if we were redoing the existing jail for that,” said Commissioner Green.

County Mayor Adcock explained how such a proposed construction project could go from $63 million last year to $34 million this year.

“One reason how that they estimated that the next jail would be so cheap in talking to the architect is before we knew the courtrooms were approximately $10 to $11 million along with clerk offices and other spaces needed for a justice center. When they cut that off it became about a $52 million building which would be the jail without the justice center. What he (architect) explained to me was the reason it’s so much cheaper is the elimination of walls and other spaces compared to the plan presented before. He said its barely usable. It’s the cheapest barebones thing you could possibly ever do just to get by. They cut that back by significantly shrinking everything in the building. Everything now is as small as you could possibly ever get it. It’s a mezzanine type structure instead of the cellular structure that we would normally go to. They tried to cut cost at every corner they could,” said County Mayor Adcock.

The new proposal has not been reviewed by the Tennessee Corrections Institute which has to certify it nor has Sheriff Patrick Ray had input.

There are still a lot of things missing like an armory, impound lot, evidence room, detective offices, etc. so there are still some questions on what that building would look like, “said County Mayor Adcock.

Last year, the county commission adopted a budget with a 51-cent property tax increase for debt service (0.6160 total) to fund construction of a jail/judicial center through the issuance of bonds not to exceed $65 million. But that project failed to move forward after it was soundly defeated at the polls in a public referendum in November. Still the 51-cent tax increase remains as part of the overall tax rate of $2.51 per $100 of assessed value.

Although no further tax increase is needed, Steve Bates, the county’s fiscal agent, is recommending, as he first proposed last month, that the county keep the tax levy the same (0.6160 for debt service) to not only fund a jail project but future school construction.

Bates presented to the budget committee assumptions on a jail debt service requirement on $29 million, $35 million, $37 million, and $44 million doing either 12-year notes, 20-year bonds, or 25-year bonds.

According to Bates, the debt service requirement on a new jail over 12 years would be $3, 080,000 on a $29,000,000 project; $3,717,000 on a $35,000,000 plan; $3,930,000 for a $37,000,000 option; and $4,675,000 on a $44,000,000 option.

After coming up with those numbers, Bates said he began to consider plans for the future.

“I wanted to see how much debt the county is taking on. Where are you going to be in 10 years. If the school #2 is out in 10 or 12 years, then where are we going to be. If you will remember when we first started talking about a judicial center and a new elementary school that would have put you over $130 million in debt. You didn’t want that so that’s where we had to regroup and that’s where we are today,” Bates continued.

“The school board has decided they want to buy land (for another future new school) so now we are going to take $1.3 million (local option sales tax fund) and put it in their educational capital projects so they can plan for school building #2. We think its probably 10-12 years down the road”.

“If you do a 12-year jail we already know if you do $55 million for this (elementary) school (funded by local option sales tax revenue) you will owe on that school (elementary) in 10 years $42 million 195 thousand dollars. You’ll owe $5 million at 20 years on that jail and if that second school is $70 million its still going to take that 51 cents. I picked $70 million because that is what the 12-year amortization would be on a $35 or $37 million project and that’s about all based on these assumptions that $70 million will amortize at. That’s it,” said Bates.

Bates further advised the county to be smart in planning for a new jail with perhaps another new school in the future.

“Remember, whatever you build it has to last. You have to build something big enough because the worst thing you could do is build it small and then before you even get started on a second school you don’t want to have to come back and start adding on to the jail. I would suggest either the $35 million or $37 million project over a 12-year period,” said Bates.

Should the county hold the property tax rate at the current level, Bates said there would most likely be no need to increase it again for several years. And based on current sales ratio, Bates said the new certified tax rate should come down next year after reappraisal.

“If you take the sales ratio times the $2.51 tax rate and all things being equal your tax rate next year should be dropped to around $1.49. This county doesn’t have a wheel tax. You don’t have a solid waste fee. You use non ad valorem taxes to fund solid waste in this county. It just so happens interest income has been good. That has allowed you to build up cash in your capital projects fund. I think we can probably keep the tax rate from being increased for at least seven years just on what we have going on. You are going to have a lot of construction going on for the next 30 to 36 months. Its just going to be about managing your money,” said Bates.

The jail committee will meet again on Monday, June 16 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the county complex.

June 3, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

Alexandria Mayor Beth Tripp and the town’s water and sewer manager Richard Edward Potter turned themselves in at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday afternoon after being named in a criminal summons for trying to get the police chief to cancel a ticket on someone.

Both will make an appearance in DeKalb County General Sessions Court on June 26th.

In a prepared statement, Sheriff Patrick Ray said that “39-year-old Jana Beth Tripp of Curtis Avenue. Alexandria and 60-year-old Richard Edward Potter of Bradford Hill Road North Brush Creek were booked into the DeKalb County Jail on June 3rd on a Criminal Summons following an investigation into a case for “Cancellation of a Citation”. These charges stem from an investigation by the Attorney General for the 13th Judicial District for DeKalb County”.

“The Criminal Summons for Tripp reads “On or about May 29th 2025, Tripp approached Alexandria Police Chief Vincent Turocy requesting him to cancel a ticket. This occurred in Alexandria in DeKalb County”.

“The Criminal Summons for Potter reads “On or about May 30th 2025, Potter approached Chief Turocy requesting him to cancel a ticket. This occurred in Alexandria in DeKalb County”.

The citations that Tripp and Potter were trying to get cancelled are not on the same person.

Both Tripp and Potter’s charges are a Class C Misdemeanor.

Tennessee Code § 40-6-215 (2024) – Summons instead of arrest warrant :: 2024 Tennessee Code :: U.S. Codes and Statutes :: U.S. Law :: Justia

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