Knox County Sheriff - Sheriff J.J. Jones
Horse Farm Owners Arrested for Violating Probation
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| Linda Cowell |
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| Barry Smith |
Two owners of a horse farm in East Knox County are in trouble again, this time for violating their probation. Fifty nine year old Linda Cowell and 58 year old Barry Smith are being held in the Knox County Detention Facility with each under a $2,200 bond. Knox County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Officers responded to the farm located at 2837 Voltz Lane after the couple was taken into custody. A veterinarian accompanied them and evaluated the horses. Six were removed from the property because of injuries and poor conditions and taken to the U.T. Animal Hospital for treatment.
Smith and Cowell were put on probation earlier this year on animal cruelty charges. In February and March of last year, KCSO Animal Control seized 35 horses from their farm. Smith and Cowell relinquished ownership and Horse Haven took the horses and eventually adopted all of them out. The couple’s farm was also placed under quarantine by the Tennessee Department of Agricultural Division of Regulatory Services because Animal Control found the carcasses of two horses. Two horses had to be transported immediately to U.T. Animal Hospital because of injuries.
In January, 2013, Cowell and Smith pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges and were given probation subject to random checks by Animal Control and to maintain all current horses in good condition.
April 2013 Detective of the Month
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office congratulates April’s Detective of the Month, Officer Amy Dobbs.
A two-year long investigation led by Officer Dobbs culminated in the identification of skeletal remains found on January 12, 1982. To identify the victim, Officer Dobbs had pictures of a facial reconstruction regressed in age by LSU FACES Laboratory and enlisted the help of the Smithsonian’s OUSS/MCI Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory to conduct Stable Isotopes testing. After family recognized the victim from the media’s coverage of her investigation, Officer Dobbs gathered DNA samples from relatives of the victim and the remains were positively identified on April 8th.
Officer Dobbs began volunteering with the KCSO in January 2011 until she was hired in April 2011.
Gibbs High School Prank Case Closed
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office have determined that there will be no prosecution for the prank last week at Gibbs High School and that the case is closed. The Sheriff’s Office investigated after school officials found several dead raccoons, possums, a turtle, and some graffiti on school property and nearby. Investigators looked into several leads before the decision was made not to prosecute.
Traffic Stop Nets Fugitive from California--Update: Correction on Names
A Knox County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Officer initiated a traffic stop at 4515 Clinton Highway, Monday afternoon for a driver who was speeding. According to the report, Officer James Troutt smelled marijuana as he approached the car and as he talked to the driver. He asked the driver and passenger to get out of the car so the dog could sniff the vehicle. A detective on the scene recognized the driver from another incident and said he should be detained because he had given false information. When he heard that, the defendant, 30 year old William J. Foote ran from the scene toward Tillery Road. Officer Troutt and his K-9 chased Foote into a thicket behind 4521Tillery Road. Foote refused to come out or show his hands and was warned if he didn’t the K-9 would bite him. He continued to refuse and the dog bit him on the right arm. He still refused to show his hands or surrender and the dog bit him on the lower left leg. At that, Foote showed his hands and surrendered to officers.
Rural Metro transported him to U.T. Medical Center where he was treated and then taken to the Knox County Detention Facility where he was charged with criminal impersonation, fake driver license, resisting arrest, manufacture, delivery, sale or possession of a schedule VI controlled substance (officers found 23 grams of marijuana in his car and a large amount of cash), and evading arrest. Foote gave officers a phony driver license on the scene and was identified at the jail through fingerprints as Foote. He is wanted in California for robbery, felony fraud and wanted by the U.S. Marshal on weapons charges. He is being held without bond.
A passenger in the car was not charged.
