 Three Tennessee residents are facing various charges after what started as an investigation into a suspicious vehicle with chicken coups hanging out the back at the Williamsburg Pilot early Saturday morning.
Williamsburg Police Officer Josh Bunch said the incident began about 5:19 a.m. when he stopped at Pilot to investigate a vehicle being parked in the no parking zone that had its doors standing open and chickens hanging out of the trunk of the vehicle.
He said the driver of the white Ford Taurus, James Edward Whitted, was also being disorderly inside the store, according to a store clerk.
When Whitted came back outside, Bunch questioned him and gave him field sobriety tests that he failed.
Bunch said there was also a female in her early 20s, who was inside Whitted's vehicle. She was questioned by police, but not arrested.
After searching the vehicle, Whitted, and the passenger, Bunch said he discovered a syringe with residue on it, and that the woman informed him that Whitted was under the influence of Oxycontin.
"They had been to illegal chicken fights in Manchester, and were on their way back to Sevierville, Tennessee," Bunch said. "When I placed the male under arrest, he asked what would happen to his granddaughter.
"I looked in the rear of the vehicle, and laying underneath one of the chicken coups was a 10-year-old girl. She was extremely dirty. You could tell she was unattended. She was hungry. She was cold."
While social services was enroute to the scene, Bunch said Whitted informed him that the girl's mother, who was his daughter, was at the Tennessee Welcome Center.
Whitted called Leslie Dawn Hurst, who agreed to return to Pilot.
After getting consent to search Hurst and her vehicle, Bunch said he turned up an Oxycontin pill inside a small metal container on her key chain.
He said Hurst didn't have a prescription for the pill, and that part of it had been chipped away, which is an indication that it was possibly snorted.
While he was in Pilot continuing his investigation, Bunch said Thomas Sawyer, who was with Hurst, tried to dispose of two Oxycontin pills by dropping them on the ground and kicking them under the car.
The girl was placed into the custody of social services.
Whitley County Emergency Management Director Jerry Powers seized the 11 fowls, and transported the birds to the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter. The owner of the birds will apparently be able to get the birds back after paying a $10 a day housing fee per bird, animal shelter officials said.
Bunch charged Whitted, 52, of Sevierville, Tenn., with public intoxication and endangering the welfare of a minor.
He charged Hurst, 29, of Sevierville, with public intoxication, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Williamsburg Police Office Mike Taylor charged Sawyer, 24, of Gatlinburg, with third-degree possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and tampering with physical evidence.
Hurst and Sawyer both pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Monday morning before District Judge Cathy Prewitt, who scheduled a July 30 preliminary hearing in the case.
Whitted has not been arraigned yet.
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