Eden deadly hit-and-run suspect posts $10K bail after being charged

Updated: 6:44 PM EDT Jun 11, 2020

A man taken into custody for a deadly hit-and-run posted bail in Rockingham County Thursday. Joseph Lee Fluellen, 27, was charged with felony hit-and-run, posted $10,000 bail and was released, according to deputies. His next court date is Tuesday.Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.Eden police officers responded to the area of Hundley Street and Maryland Avenue at about 4 p.m. Sunday in reference to a bicyclist struck by a vehicle.When police arrived, they found Michael Workman, of Eden, lying in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Fluellen left the area and headed east on Maryland Avenue, according to officers. Investigators identified Fluellen as the primary suspect.

EDEN, N.C. —

A man taken into custody for a deadly hit-and-run posted bail in Rockingham County Thursday.

Joseph Lee Fluellen, 27, was charged with felony hit-and-run, posted $10,000 bail and was released, according to deputies. His next court date is Tuesday.

Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.

Eden police officers responded to the area of Hundley Street and Maryland Avenue at about 4 p.m. Sunday in reference to a bicyclist struck by a vehicle.

When police arrived, they found Michael Workman, of Eden, lying in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fluellen left the area and headed east on Maryland Avenue, according to officers. Investigators identified Fluellen as the primary suspect.

An 18-year-old in Randolph County is charged with eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor Friday.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division/Internet Crimes Against Children started an investigation after receiving information that an individual possessed multiple files of child pornography.

Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.

Deputies followed the investigation and filed warrants for the arrest of Johan Manuel Caceres Yubran Friday. He was arrested without incident and transported to the Randolph County Detention Center on $100,000 bail.

Yubran is charged with eight counts of felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. His first court appearance is set for Monday.

A call about an erratic driver in Montgomery County ended up with the arrest of an NFL player over the weekend.

According to authorities in Montgomery County, they received a 911 call from a driver on Saturday night, who said a man driving a white Ford F-250 was driving recklessly while pulling a trailer with an ATV. 

The caller said it was in the area of Highway 242, near the Conroe area. The man was speeding and unable to stay in his own lane in a 45 mph construction zone. 

The truck and trailer were eventually stopped and, after failing field sobriety tests, the man was placed in custody  for misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. 

Found inside the car was a small caliber pistol, which Texas State law says one cannot be in possession of when engaging in criminal activity. He was also charged with misdemeanor Unlawful carrying of a weapon. 

The man was identified as 22 year old Ed Oliver of Houston. Oliver currently plays for the Buffalo Bills, and was a first round pick in the 2019 draft. 

No further information was released. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tex. (KBTX) — According to a press release, Montgomery County Communications received a 911 call from a concerned driver Saturday night around 9 p.m. They said a man, later identified as Ed Oliver, 22, was driving a white F250 recklessly while pulling a trailer with an ATV.

The caller said the area of Highway 242 they were traveling was a construction zone with a 45 mph speed limit. Oliver was not able to stay in his own lane and was speeding.

A deputy with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office located and stopped the vehicle on FM 242 near FM 1485.

After failing field sobriety tests, Oliver was placed in custody for misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. Inside Oliver’s vehicle, deputies found a small caliber pistol; Texas law states that one cannot be in possession of a handgun while engaged in criminal activity. Oliver was also charged with misdemeanor Unlawful Carrying of a Weapon.

Oliver is a defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills. He was drafted by the Bills in the first round to the 2019 NFL Draft.

A Sullivan County man has been charged with murder following an incident on Sunday in the Town of Cochecton.

On Sunday, at approximately 1:05 a.m. Sullivan County Sheriffs responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting that had occurred at 449 Skipperene Road in the Town of Cochecton.

Upon arrival, deputies found a deceased male who suffered a gunshot wound sitting in a vehicle in the driveway of a residence. Deputies interviewed a female witness outside the residence, then attempted to make contact with two males who were inside the residence.

The two males initially refused to exit the residence, but eventually complied. Further investigation revealed that Anthony Bertolini, age 40, had stopped by the home to visit the female subject when John McArdle, 76, exited the residence with a long gun and shot Bertolini through the windshield of the vehicle he was sitting in.

Bertolini was pronounced deceased at the scene. A search warrant was executed later that day at the residence, and police recovered three rifles and a handgun from the scene.

John McArdle was charged with one count of murder in second-degree, criminal possession of weapon second-degree, and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon third-degree.

McArdle was arraigned via video internet link and remanded to Sullivan County Jail on no bail pending a court date this week. The motive for the shooting is still under investigation.

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Updated at 3:56 p.m. Monday

Georgia’s attorney general appointed a black district attorney Monday to take over the case of a white father and son charged with killing a black man, making her the third outside prosecutor in a slaying that’s prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was fatally shot Feb. 23 by the men who told police they chased him because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video. Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were arrested last week, more than two months later, after video of the shooting appeared online and provoked outrage. Federal prosecutors are also considering hate crimes charges, the Justice Department said.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes takes over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who the state’s attorney general said asked to be replaced by someone with a larger staff and more resources as “this case has grown in size and magnitude.” Holmes is based in metro Atlanta, more than 300 miles from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened.

“District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge,” state Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said in a statement. “And the Cobb County District Attorney’s office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done.”

An attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, applauded the appointment of a new lead prosecutor.

“In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement. He asked that Holmes “be zealous in her search for justice.”

The McMichaels weren’t arrested until after the video became public and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to look into the killing. It was not known Monday whether the McMichaels had attorneys to represent them. They had no lawyers at their first court appearance Friday.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed since Thursday on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who later worked 20 years as an investigator for the local district attorney’s office. He retired a year ago.

Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case because the elder McMichael had worked under her. The first outside prosecutor appointed, District Attorney George Barnhill of the neighboring Waycross Judicial Circuit, stepped aside about a month later because his son works for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor. Durden got the case in mid-April.

Attorneys for Arbery’s parents and others, including Carr and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have asked for a federal investigation to weigh whether hate crimes charges should be brought. Georgia has no hate crime law allowing state charges.

“We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement Monday.

According to Kupec’s statement, the department is also considering Carr’s request for federal authorities to investigate how local police and prosecutors handled the case. She said Carr has been asked to “forward to federal authorities any information that he has.”

The father and son told police they thought Arbery matched the appearance of a burglary suspect who they said had been recorded on a surveillance camera some time before, according to the Glynn County police report filed after the shooting.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighborhood before he was killed.

The leaked video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. A truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one white man standing in the pickup’s bed and another beside the open driver’s side door.

The running man attempts to pass the pickup on the passenger side, moving briefly outside the camera’s view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the running man grappling with a man over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the running man can be seen punching the other man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The running man staggers a few feet and falls face down.

A man who says he recorded the cellphone video of the shooting said he’s received death threats.

William R. Bryan — who reportedly goes by “Roddie” — is identified as a witness in the police report taken after Arbery’s shooting. He also appears to be mentioned in a single sentence of the report, which says Gregory McMichael told an officer that “’Roddy’ attempted to block (Arbery) which was unsuccessful.” It’s not clear what that is referring to.

“I had nothing to do with it. I’m trying to get my life back to normal, and it’s been smeared for the last week,” Bryan told WJAX-TV in an interview that aired Monday. “I was told I was a witness and I’m not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats.”

Bryan has not been charged in the case. The TV station reported Bryan would not discuss his involvement in the events that led to Arbery’s death.

A Pleasant Garden man is charged with more than 30 charges related to secret peeping in Randolph County.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division received a report of peeping on April 22 and handed the investigation to the Criminal Investigations Division Internet Crimes Against Children Detective.

Click the video player above for headlines from WXII 12 News.

Michael Shame Mosqueda was reported by the victim, who knew the suspect.

Detectives executed a search warrant on May 8 at Mosqueda’s home and took his computer and multiple storage devices. He was then arrested and taken into custody without incident.

Mosqueda is charged with 16 counts of secretly using or installing a photographic imaging device to arouse or gratify sexual desire and 16 counts of possessing photographic images obtained in violation of the peeping statute.

Mosqueda is being held in the Randolph County Detention Center on $25,000 bail. His first court appearance is set for Monday.

The investigation is ongoing and more charges may be forthcoming, according to detectives.