Convicted of sex abuse, kidnaping and civil rights violations, former Solid Waste Director for Cumberland County Mike Harvel received a 17 year sentence.
Harvel will receive credit for the 2 years he has already served and must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he can be considered for parole. Another 5 years of parole will be required if he is released.
The Federal Judge required that neither Harvel or any of his friends contact any of the victims.
An appeal is expected to be filed on Harvel's behalf by a public defender.
Several friends and family members testified on Harvel's behalf and 9 of his victims gave victim impact statements.
The Sentencing for Former Cumberland
County Solid Waste Director and former County Commissioner Mike
Harvel is set for Thursday April 20 in a Federal Court in Nashville.
In December 2022 Harvel was convicted
by a federal jury of 9 counts of civil rights violations, including
kidnapping and sexual assault.
The Department of Justice is seeking
life in prison for Harvel as outlined in a Sentencing Memorandum
filed with the court Monday.
The defense has filed a motion asking
that Harvel be sentenced to 120 months (Ten years). The defense
outlines the reasons including Harvel had no previous record and a
his myriad of medical problems. Harvel is 61 years old.
State charges in connection with the
incidents leading to his federal convictions remain pending.
In
2021, a sexual harassment lawsuit against Cumberland County was
settled for $1.1 million. The lawsuit alleged, among other things,
that Cumberland County failed to take adequate precautions to prevent
Harvel, as the director of the county’s Solid Waste Department,
from sexually harassing women he supervised. According to the
complaint, Harvel regularly subjected the women to unwanted sexual
contact, including kissing and groping, and to unwelcome sexual
advances.
We have word from South Carolina that former Cumberland Co. Central Communications director Mike Blackwood has died at 63.
In 2018, Blackwood, a US Marine veteran sued Cumberland County along with former County mayor Kenneth Carey and others over First Amendment issues and harrasment claims. The suit was later settled.
A book he wrote about growing up in the south "Over Easy" was published last year and Blackwood was working on another book as well.
Blackwood also worked with the Cumberland Co. Young Marines program when it was first formed.
May 3rd Primary election will include County offices, 13th Judicial district elections for judges, District Attorney and Public Defender.
Election day is May 3rd and Early voting will be held April 13 through 28. With the new census, a number of voting districts and voting locations have changed. Voters should have received a new card if any of these locations have changed for them.
Early voting will be held in a new location as well because the Election Commission offices have moved to Northside Lane. Early voting will not be held at the old post office on Main Street any longer.
Election Commission Office 83 Northside Ln
Sample Ballots for the Republican and Democratic Primary follow. There is no General election on this ballot.
FAIRFIELD GLADE – A joint investigation by special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Fairfield Glade Police Department, and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in the arrest of a Fairfield Glade man, charged with killing a neighbor and injuring two others.
Tony Davenport
At the request of 13th District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, on March 18th, TBI special agents responded to a residence in the 20 block of Grouse Court in Fairfield Glade, where three individuals had been shot. Jacob Lewis (DOB: 1/1/98) was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two other wounded individuals were transported to an area hospital for treatment. During the course of the investigation, agents and investigators developed information that identified a neighbor, Tony Davenport, as the individual responsible.
Davenport (DOB: 2/26/65) has been booked into the Cumberland County Jail on one count of First Degree Murder and two counts of Attempted First Degree Murder. He is currently being held without bond.
An early morning Tuesday residential fire on Village Way in the Greenbriar subdivision may have been caused by use of a kerosene heater as auxiliary heat causing three residents to be treated for smoke inhalation.
House appearance when fire department
first arrived on the scene.
According to Crossville Fire Chief Chris South the fire started in a sunroom at the rear of the home. Three residents were transported to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Two of the homes residents were elderly and were in the area where the fire started.
The fire is believed to have originated in
a sun room at the rear of the home.
Chief South said the call came in at about 8:30 and he was the first on the scene and he said the rapid response time and quick work of the department members allowed them to knock the fire down quickly saving at least part of the structure though the fire had a big head start on the fire department.
Chief South stated that the outcome could have been worse had the house not had smoke detectors that alerted residents of the home about the fire.
Some 25 firefighters were at the scene including an assist from the Cumberland Co. Fire Department. No fire personnel were injured in fighting the fire.
The damage to the structure and contents was estimated at $300,000 by CHief South.
At the request of 13th District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, TBI special agents are investigating the circumstances that led to the shooting of a man during an altercation with a deputy of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department Friday night.
Preliminary information indicates that around 9 p.m. Friday, dispatchers received a report of a pick-up truck traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of I-40 near mile marker 311. A Cumberland County deputy responding to the area found the vehicle unoccupied, on the shoulder of the interstate. Another deputy located the driver standing on the outside lane of the interstate, and told him to show his hands. Initial information from the scene indicates the man brandished a handgun and ran towards the deputy. The deputy fired at the man, striking him. The individual was pronounced deceased at the scene. No officers were injured in the incident. The identity of the man who was shot is being withheld at this time pending notification of relatives. The Tennessee Highway Patrol Critical Response Team provided assistance during this incident.
TBI agents are working to independently determine the set of events leading to the shooting, including collecting evidence and conducting interviews. Throughout the process, investigative findings will be shared with the district attorney general for his further review and consideration.
The TBI acts as facts-finders in its cases and does not determine whether the actions of an officer were justified in these types of matters. That decision rests with the district attorney general requesting TBI's involvement
