Category: News

On Sunday morning, (April 22nd, 2018) a white male entered the Waffle House on the Woodbury Hwy in Manchester around 3:30am, ordered food and then wrote a note to an employee saying he had gun and demanded money. After committing the robbery, the white male asked for the note back from the employee. The man never showed a weapon.
The man left Waffle House in a black or dark gray compact vehicle, driving in the direction of Interstate 24.
The male subject is wanted by Manchester Police for questioning concerning the robbery.
If you can help identify the male subject, please contact the Manchester Police Department 931-728-2099.

Last week in Tullahoma the Manchester Police Department working with the Tullahoma Police Department and the Coffee County Sheriff Department, served a search warrant to Michael Mario Fuqua. The man had two active warrants out for his arrest for violating parole and another for allegedly selling drugs.
During the time the search warrant was served officers were able to seize two firearms and a half-a-pound of methamphetamine.
Fuqua, 33, of Hillwood Road Tullahoma is accused of scratching off a serial number on one of the two seized pistols.
Fuqua will appear in front of a grand jury, facing the charges of drug manufacturing and a felony possession of a firearm.
He is being housed under no bond at the Coffee County Jail.
Tullahoma Police Investigators Johnny Gore and Tyler Hatfield along with Coffee County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Reed assisted in the case.

On April 20, 2018, Goodrich Corporation, UTC Aerospace Systems, filed a WARN notification with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The letter explains that the company will be permanently closing its facility on June 29, 2018. The company is located a 201 Mitchell Boulevard in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
As a result of the upcoming closure, 118 workers will be laid off.
The employees at the facility are represented by a collective bargaining agreement. The Local Workforce Development Area 6 rapid response team, employed by the Workforce Solutions, has been notified to coordinate services with the employer and effected employees. The Local Workforce Development Board of area 6 will be responsible for the oversight of the continued follow up of Rapid Response and Dislocated Worker services associated with this event.

A Tullahoma man was arrested April 17 for making a bomb threat on a hospital in St. John’s County Florida.
According to a report by Tullahoma Police Officer Derrick Derlien, a detective with the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Department stated that Joseph Conley Newton, 32, of East Moore Street had made the threat to the Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Florida between 12 noon and 12:30 p.m. on April 17.
When Officer Derlien went to the East Moore Street address Newton told him that he had spoken to his mother earlier in the day. During the conversation his mother had angered him about his drinking. He said that the line then “disconnected.”
He stated that he then called back a second time but “did not remember” what he had said to the operator at the hospital. He stated that the reason he couldn’t remember was that he was “intoxicated.”
The Florida investigator sent to Officer Derlien a copy of a text message that Newton had sent to his mother claiming to have called in a bomb threat at her work. According to the Florida investigator, the text was received at 12:16 p.m. and that the number that the text was sent matched the number used by Newton in the conversation with his mother.
Newton was arrested on a charge of filing a false report. He was booked into the Coffee County Jail and his bond was set at $50,000. He will possibly be extradited to Florida to face the charges.

Americans are finding some of the most expensive gas prices in years. Sunday’s national average of $2.76 per gallon is the highest daily average since July 2015.
Tennessee gas prices set a new 2018 high of $2.55, which is the highest average since September, when prices were recovering from two hurricanes.
AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said high oil prices are the main reason gasoline is so expensive now. He said gas prices should hit their annual peak within the next couple of weeks. However, unforeseen circumstances like escalating geopolitical tensions or a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico could cause prices to surge.
The low price in Coffee County as of Tuesday afternoon could be found in both Manchester and Tullahoma at $2.42 per gallon.

On Friday (April 20, 2018) Manchester Police Officer Daryn Gadeken received information from another officer about a person attempting to sell drugs at the Scottish Inn on Hillsboro Highway in Manchester. Once the officer arrived, he talked to an employee of the motel and that person pointed to a vehicle and told the officer that was the subject. According to warrants, the male subject saw the officer and backed his vehicle into a parking space. As officers approached the man tossed something into the front seat of his vehicle and ran from the scene. Gadeken and other officers gave chase. While the foot chase was going on, the man was allegedly dropping things as he ran. When officers caught up to the man, he then turned toward the officers in an allegedly threatening manor, and officers brought the man into custody.
Once back at the subject’s vehicle, items allegedly in plain sight of officers included a 357-magnum hand gun, box of shells, 3 sets of digital scales with white residue on them, and a sock with approximately 22 grams of white power in small bags plus $1,027 in cash.
Jason Lee Biles, age 36, of McMinnville was charged with evading arrest, unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon, unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities, driving on revoked suspended/ license, resisting arrest and manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance. There was an active warrant out of Warren County. Bond was set at $17,000, and he will appear in Coffee County court on May 22, 2018.