Wilmjax News

WILMINGTON — Wilmington police have arrested a man for last month’s armed robbery of the Taco Bell on college road.

They arrested Anthony Allen of Wilmington after serving a search warrant at his home. He is charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and felony conspiracy.

Detectives are still looking for the other man involved in the case.

Article here.

WILMINGTON — A Hoggard High School star running back is facing felony drug charges.

The football career of Rashad Williams could be over after he was arrested for possession with intent to sell and distribute marijuana and possession of a schedule one controlled substance.

Schedule one drugs include heroin and LSD, among others.

The 18-year-old Hoggard senior is one of the football team’s standout players. He was arrested around noon Monday near the high school’s campus.

Williams will appear in court at the end of the month.

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There are several new developments in the Thomas Wright saga. The Wake County district attorney says the investigation into the state representative’s campaign finances could go on for two more weeks.

DA Colon Willoughby originally said the investigation would be finished by october first. But he says he’s now asked the SBI to look into several additional matters before filing its final report.

The DA launched a criminal investigation in May, when a hearing in Raleigh uncovered several disturbing allegations against Wright. Among them: hiding politically sensitive campaign contributions, co-mingling campaign and personal finances and a fraudulent real estate deal.

At the same time, the house ethic committee began an investigation of its own. But House Speaker Joe Hackney says he is suspending that investigation until the SBI is finished.

And that’s not sitting well with some.

Former political consultant Joe Sinsheimer, who filed the original complaint against Wright, released this statement: “Representative Wright should have been expelled from the House months ago, but the speaker and his democratic colleagues apparently lack both the political will and the moral courage to do the right thing.”

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NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A local community activist delivered a message to the New Hanover County School Board on Monday night.

Tannis Nelson is urging school board members to reconsider their decision not to meet with the NAACP.

The NAACP wants to discuss issues like the redistricting plan that took effect this fall. The plan has been criticized for lessening racial diversity in schools.

Board members have said publicly they cannot meet with every group who asks them, because doing so would set a precedent.

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COLUMBUS COUNTY — Police in Whiteville have made a big break in last week’s shooting. Two teens have been arrested, and authorities are looking for a third.

The teens are charged with stealing the car used in last Friday’s drive by shooting.

Whiteville police say 17-year-olds Justin Wright and Connail Reeves broke into an auto center in Whiteville in the early morning hours of Friday, September 21 and stole a silver Ford Taurus and a .25 caliber handgun.

Less than 24 hours later authorities say that same Ford Taurus was caught on surveillance at Sam’s Pit Stop in Lake Waccamaw, firing shots into a crowd of people after the East Columbus and Whiteville football game.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A state auditor says the SBI should look into payments that Rep. Thomas Wright received for meetings involving a state agency.

An audit released Monday shows that the New Hanover County Democrat was paid 19 times for subsistence and travel to Raleigh for meetings involving the state Department of Health and Human Services.

But the audit found that Wright should have already been in Raleigh for legislative sessions in eight of those cases. The audit said Wright received reimbursement from both DHHS and the Legislature.

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State NAACP officials aren’t taking no for an answer.

A written request asking the New Hanover County school board to meet with local representatives of the civil rights organization will be made today, N.C. NAACP President William Barber said in an interview Monday.

This is the third attempt NAACP officials have made in five months to meet with the elected body.

On March 26, New Hanover County NAACP President Harold Beatty e-mailed school board Chairman Don Hayes wanting to discuss concerns about the district’s new magnet schools.

Beatty sent a second letter June 1 hoping to talk to the board about the selection process for a new superintendent.

Both requests were denied because of the board’s inability to meet with every organization that would like to do so, Hayes said in a June 14 Star-News article. By 8 p.m. Monday, he had not returned messages left on his cell phone and at his home.

“We’re never deterred by a no,” Barber said.

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WILMINGTON — One of the oldest civil rights organizations, the NAACP, just announced it’s 64th annual North Carolina State Conference will take place right here in Wilmington.

The president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP made the announcement Monday.

The state chapter will be awarded for its efforts in legal and public activism.

Chapter President Rev. William Barber shared his excitement over having the conference here.

The conference will take place in October.

The North Carolina conference is the third largest in the nation.

Article here.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY — A Brunswick County junior firefighter has been arrested for setting fires to help extinguish the fires.

Lee Jolly, 17-year-old Boiling Spring Lakes resident was arrested Tuesday and charged with second degree arson.

Police say Jolly set two unoccupied homes on fire in Boiling Spring Lakes.

The first fire was set in the beginning of August on High Point Road; the second fire was set on Sunday night on Wilmington Road.

Police say that witnesses saw a young man leaving the scene of the first fire on a bike.

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WHITEVILLE — The FBI has taken the lead in trying to determine the source of letters threatening black students who attend Cerro Gordo and Evergreen elementary schools because of the closing of Fair Bluff Elementary, Columbus County Sheriff Chris Batten said today.

“We don’t know who’s responsible at this point, and we’re not assuming anything,” Batten said.

The letters, which contained threats and racial slurs, were found in yards and in driveways in Evergreen and Fair Bluff over the weekend.

Dan Strickland, the superintendent of Columbus County schools, said there haven’t been any problems at the schools this week.

“When I saw it, I just couldn’t believe it,” Strickland said of the letter, which claims to originate from the Ku Klux Klan and contains racial epithets.

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WILMINGTON — A new study has been released confirming that where you live in Wilmington affects your chances of being a victim of violent crime.

A study was released on Tuesday during a regular trauma conference held at the Coastal Area Health and Education Center at the hospital.

The study shows that the victims of stabbings and shootings in Wilmington are mostly young, male, African-American and poor.

The study went on to reveal three distinct areas in the city where more than fifty percent of these victims live. The study examined the trauma cases at the hospital from 1995 to 2005 and where those victims lived.

They were clustered in three spots, the first is north and south of Market Street west of 17th Street, north of Market Street near 30th street and Princess Place Drive and near Carolina Beach Road and Shipyard Boulevard.

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NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A Leland man suspected of being under the influence of alcohol when he hit and killed a woman five years ago has been convicted of driving while impaired.

Efrain Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a DWI charge in a New Hanover County courtroom on Monday.

Rodriguez has a history of driving drunk.

He has been arrested twice before on DWI charges. In 2003, he hit and killed a pregnant woman then drove away.

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WILMINGTON — A major drug bust has landed a local man behind bars under a $3 million bond.

Angel Cordova was arrested on four charges. The New Hanover County Vice and Narcotics Division found about 90 pounds of marijuana in Cordova’s house off Suncoast Drive near Gordon Road.

The value of the drugs is estimated at more than $200,000.

Investigators also seized more than $100,000 in cash from the house.

Article here.

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — It’s the fourth time he’s been charged with drunken driving, but the first time the charges stuck.

Efrain Rodriguez pleaded guilty in New Hanover County court Monday for driving while impaired in August 2006.

Rodriguez is the same man who killed Tracy Kharbat back in 2002 after running over her in the North Chase community.

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WILMINGTON — Two teens responsible for a fatal shooting in Wilmington made their first appearance in court on Monday.

Wilmington Police Department detectives have charged 17-year-old Anthony Jackson and 16-year-old Teahon Malik Lane with first degree murder.

Gunfire rang out around 4 p.m. on Friday in the 4400 block of Princess Place Drive near the McDonalds on Friday afternoon.

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