Truck damages downtown Gadsden building

A truck struck the side of downtown Gadsden's Merrill Lynch building Tuesday  evening, leaving a hole in the outer brick wall.

 People who saw the collision said a man driving a truck hit a police car before striking the building in the 200 block of Broad Street shortly before 5 p.m. Once the area was cleared, a chunk of bricks were left on the sidewalk.

The collision left a hole in the building's side wall next to the parking lot, revealing what one employee said was a maintenance room. A police officer was stationed at the site to prevent the curious from getting too close to the debris.

Murder suspect apprehended

Cassie Cranford Rivera                      Alberto Rivera

Etowah County investigators have arrested a woman accused of killing her infant child in 2013.  Sheriff Todd Entrekin said 33-year-old Cassie Cranford Rivera was hiding under a bed at a house on Holly Street in Attalla.

Rivera is charged with capital murder.  Investigators said her three-week-old son died from blunt force trauma in September 2013.

Attalla police officers, deputies, and U.S. Marshals with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force caught Rivera on Friday afternoon.  They also arrested Terry Rogers at the home.  He is charged with hindering prosecution.

Entrekin said Rivera resisted arrest, and officers who transported her to jail said she screamed, swore, and spat during the car ride to the Etowah County Jail.

The couple's son died September 9, 2013.  Investigators received the results of the autopsy December 31, 2014.

Investigators arrested the child's father, 35-year-old Alberto Rivera, that afternoon.  Sheriff Entrekin said deputies conducted a traffic stop at Alberto Rivera's home, but Cassie Rivera was not there.

Investigators continue to work on another child death case, also from 2013.  The sheriff said he expects to receive that autopsy report soon, and believes it will also be a homicide.

Police investigating new years shootings

Anniston police report An Anniston bar was the site of at least three crimes in the early morning hours of New Years Day.

A 24-year-old man was shot at AJ’s Sunset Bar and Grill on Hillyer Robinson Parkway, some time between midnight and 4:30 a.m..

Police say the man was shot in the leg.

Police say a 21-year-old woman told police that at around 3:40 a.m. Thursday someone shot into the quarter panel of her 2010 Nissan Cube while it was parked outside the bar.  No one was injured in the incident. 

The shooting caused about $1,400 in damage to the car, according to police.

Police report that a retired police cruiser was stolen from thesame area.

A 31-year-old man told police his brown and tan 2005 Ford Crown Victoria, formerly a police cruiser, was stolen from a parking lot on Hillyer Robinson Parkway at around 4:40 a.m. Thursday.

Police say they believe that all three crimes may  be unrelated, and all remain under investigation.

Gadsden police arrest new years burglary suspect

Travell Montez Malone

Gadsden police report A man was arrested New Year’s Day after someone reported seeing him carrying a TV over a wall behind a South 12th Street residence.

Police were called at about 1:15 a.m. new years morning to take a burglary report at a residence in the 800 block of South 12th Street. While they were there to take the report, relatives of the victim discovered that their home, across the street from the first victims, had also been burglarized.

At the first home, someone had thrown a rock through a window to gain entry. Drawers had been pulled out of furniture throughout the house. Nothing was immediately known missing other than a pair of red Converse shoes.

Those shoes were found on the ground outside a window at the burglarized house next door.

At the second house, far more property was reported missing. Four TVs, two DVD players, DVDs and two tablet devices were reported stolen.

All would be recovered, however, when police got another call to the neighborhood a little more than an hour later.

At about 2:30 a.m. officers were dispatched to another residence in the 800 block of South 12th Street after someone said they’d seen a man carrying a TV over the fence behind that residence, a few houses away from the scenes of the earlier burglaries.  When the officer looked over the brick wall, he could see a couple of TVs sitting on the ground beside a trash can in the driveway of a residence in the 1200 block of Walnut Street. As the officer began to climb the wall, a tall, slender black man wearing jeans and a crimson toboggan stood up beside the trash can and run away from him toward Walnut Street. The officer yelled at him to stop, but he kept running.

After searching the area for several minutes, officers found the suspect, lying on the porch of a residence in the 1200 block of Walnut Street.

The suspect was handcuffed, and officers found a TV controller in his pocket, along with a check written to one of the homeowners in the earlier burglary reports and a cellphone.

19 year old Travell Montez Malone, was arrested for two counts of third-degree burglary. He is in the Etowah County Detention Center; no bond has been set.

Talladega man charged on drug violations

Donnie Paul Wilson

A 44 year old Talladega man has been jailed on felony drug and probation violation charges, as well as various misdemeanors and traffic violations.

Donnie Paul Wilson, of  Brecon Access Road, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia, attempting to elude, resisting arrest, two counts of failure to appear in Talladega Municipal Court for traffic violations and felony probation violation.

According to Talladega County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force Commander Jason Murray, District Judge Jeb Fannin verbally set Wilson’s bond at $5,000, although he will not be allowed to get out of jail because of the probation hold.

Police said Wilson drove up to a traffic checkpoint at Broadway Avenue and William H. Moody in a red Toyota pickup truck at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. When he was approached by an officer, Wilson allegedly admitted that he did not have a driver’s license or proof of insurance. He was told to pull over to the side of the road.

After he pulled over, he was able to produce an identification card. When an officer ran the card through central dispatch, the probation violation warrant came up. The officer was also told that Wilson’s license had been revoked.

When the officer approached Wilson to arrest him on the warrant, Wilson drove off, and a chase ensued.

Wilson and the two police officers drove through the grass at the end of William H. Moody, past Curry Court and eventually came around to Six Points. He eventually stopped near Meadowood Apartments, although he continued to resist being taken into custody.

Officers recovered a glass jar containing a plastic bag which, in turn, appeared to contain crystal methamphetamine. Wilson also had pipes and a small set of scales with him when he was arrested.

Once the potential methamphetamine was located, officers contacted the drug task force to take over. A task force search of Wilson’s vehicle did not turn up any other contraband.

Wilson had been on probation for a felony assault conviction until he failed a drug screen some four years ago. The warrant had been issued at that time but was not served until Thursday night.