Grand Jury indicts three in false report probe
HUNTSVILLE — A grand jury has indicted three persons in connection with a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe into an alleged false report.
Former Scott County Sheriff’s Department Chief Detective Donnie Anderson was among those indicted by the Scott County Grand Jury, which returned those indictments among others during a scheduled session Monday morning.
Also indicted were Tammy Maria Mae Carroll, age 36, of Campbell County, and Michael Paul Webb, age 30, of Oneida.
Anderson was charged with two counts of official suppression, two counts of official misconduct and one count of filing a false report, while Webb and Carroll were each charged with one count of filing a false report.
All three defendants turned themselves in to TBI Special Agent Andy Corbett at the Scott County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday morning.
The indictments highlight an investigation that began in June, when an incident report was filed at the Sheriff’s Department alleging that an 18-year-old Oneida woman assaulted 19-year-old Tammy Sexton, of Pine Knot, Ky.
Although all official players in the investigation have kept mum about the findings of the probe, citing its continuing nature, family of the Oneida woman had alleged that the incident report was false. Allegedly, the report was filed on June 13 and accused the would-be suspect of physically injuring Sexton during a dispute in the parking lot of Helenwood Foods in Huntsville. On June 17, according to a member of the family, Anderson contacted the accused woman about the report. The family says they then contacted Sheriff Anthony Lay.
Anderson was placed on paid administrative leave on June 23, and the investigation was turned over to the TBI. While Sheriff Lay could not comment on the specifics of the investigation, he said that he turned over the investigation after finding wrongdoing and to avoid a perception of favoritism with Anderson, who he described as a personal friend.
Anderson was fired from the department on August 9 after the TBI returned the preliminary results of its investigation.
The role of Carroll and Webb in the incident has not been publicly discussed by authorities, and the actual indictments, spelling out the reasons for the charges, had not been released as of the Independent Herald’s press deadline. However, a source close to the investigation told the Independent Herald that Carroll was presented to authorities as the supposed “Tammy Sexton,” who apparently did not exist, shortly after the report was called into question.
All three suspects will likely make their first court appearance on the charges facing them Monday morning, when they will be scheduled for arraignment.