The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

January 1, 2013

2012 was busy year for BPD

By Sarah Plummer Register-Herald Reporter

Beckley Police Department had a busy year, and one crime that stands out most in Chief Tim Deems’ mind is a home invasion in which two men bound and gagged an 86-year-old woman around 5 a.m. June 14 on Crescent Road.

Two men left the woman bound with a belt and fled with electronics, jewelry, money and the homeowner’s car.

The suspects, Christian Hines, 26, and Kevin Saunders, 25, both of Mabscott, were arrested just a few hours later when police found the homeowner’s car outside a Mabscott home off Chestnut Street.

Deems said the suspects were charged for kidnapping, second degree robbery, burglary and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The charges are still pending in circuit court, he added.

Deems said the most surprising case for Beckley Police is actually a series of cases.

Police investigated a total of six murders during 2012 when they usually average two or three a year, he said.

Three of the city’s murders were shootings, two were stabbings and one was a beating.

Two of the six were connected to drugs, two were domestic occurrences and the last two were nondomestic physical altercations.

Deems said that while police have closed nearly all of these murder cases, one case remains open.

Jeffrey Terrell Singleton, 22, was found dead March 3 in his home on Harlan Court.

Singleton had suffered two fatal gunshot wounds to his abdomen. When police arrived, the door was locked and there were no signs of forced entry.

Deems said police are investigating persons of interest, but no charges have yet been filed.

Police are still asking anyone with information on Singleton’s murder to contact Beckley Police at 304-256-1720 or CrimeStoppers at 304-255-7867.

The third top Beckley crime story of the year is a positive one.

In 2012, Beckley Police Department had the largest drug arrest in the agency’s history with 1,600 30-milligram oxycodone pills worth around $70,000 taken off the street after a traffic stop Sept. 23.

William P. Ponder, 23, of New York, had been under investigation for distributing drugs in the area.

Ponder was arrested with Nara Ray, 36, of Beckley, in the area of Interstate 64 near Grandview.

This arrest was a collaboration between Beckley Police Department’s Drug Task Force and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department.

Beckley Police Detective Lt. Gant Montgomery said Ponder is out on bond and charges are pending against him through the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

— E-mail: splummer@register-herald.com

Text Only
Today's Front Page
  • powerball Drawing tonight

    With an estimated Powerball Jackpot of $600 million, the largest prize in the game’s history and the world’s second largest lottery prize, many local residents are dreaming of how they would spend their fortune if they were to strike it rich.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • Details still ‘sketchy’ concerning shutdown of cardiac stent procedures at RGH

     The four-day suspension of heart stent procedures at Raleigh General Hospital due to an “unexpected availability of physician coverage” and without further explanation has left more questions than answers, answers that, according to hospital spokesman and Director of Marketing Kevin McGraw, will not be available until at least Monday.

    May 18, 2013

  • ticket 2013 Click-it Or Ticket campaign starts today

    Beckley Police Lt. Paul Blume wants to let motorists know that if they get pulled over in the Beckley area today, they’re getting a ticket.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • grad An Eye Toward the Future

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • RGH suspends heart stent procedures until Monday

     Officials at Raleigh General Hospital issued a statement late Thursday afternoon indicating that “due to the unexpected unavailability of physician coverage,” cardiac stent procedures won’t be available to area residents at the Beckley facility until Monday, May 20.
     No other details were provided by hospital officials.
     Interventional cardiac care procedures were launched at RGH in November 2009 to serve a growing need for angioplasty lab services in Southern West Virginia.
     

    May 16, 2013

  • Thompson to depart house speaker post

    Rick Thompson is abandoning his post as speaker of the House of Delegates to accept a cabinet-level job in the Tomblin administration as head of the Department of Veterans Assistance.
    Thompson’s departure is likely to trigger a scramble to succeed him as speaker, with a number of Democrats expected to jockey for the post.

    May 16, 2013

  • No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million

    The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $475 million after no tickets matched the winning numbers in the latest drawing.

    May 16, 2013

  • W.Va. House speaker to take Cabinet post

    Sources tell The Associated Press that House Speaker Richard Thompson is leaving the Legislature to join Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s Cabinet.

    May 16, 2013

  • At least 6 confirmed dead in Texas tornadoes

    A rash of tornados slammed into several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens more injured and hundreds homeless. The violent spring storm scattered bodies, flattened homes, threw trailers onto cars.

    May 16, 2013

  • 051613 1A1 News FOP 1.jpg THIN BLUE LINE — National Peace Officers Memorial Day observed

    Police and community members took time Wednesday to pause and memorialize.
    “These are men and women who had a calling for peace in a world full of darkness, those who chose to represent a thin blue line that runs through that darkness,” Lt. R.S. Prince of the Oak Hill Police Department, who served as master of ceremonies, told the gathered crowd.

    May 16, 2013 2 Photos