| Police
to start citing people hanging out at businesses after hours
Officers
will write criminal trespass citations to violators
By JOSHUA COFFMAN
Landmark News Service
Police in Owenton plan
to start cracking down on people hanging out or leaving their
cars in local business parking lots after closing time.
Officer Tony Stigers, of the Owenton Police Department, said city
officials decided to get tough on the issue following an incident
earlier this month, when several people got into a fight in the
New Horizons Hospital parking lot.
According to Stigers, many businesses in town have no-parking-after-hours
signs, and business owners have complained about after-hours loitering.
Many of those loitering in parking lots after hours are teens
or people in their early 20s, Stigers said, noting that officers
often spend about one-fourth of their time at night addressing
complaints stemming from parking-lot hangouts, including drinking,
littering, fighting and tire squealing.
Stigers also said there have been two separate break-in attempts
at the Owenton Auto Bath in the early-morning hours between 4
and 7 a.m. But he said the recent incident that resulted in a
fight breaking out, during which a person allegedly kicked a fence
on the hospital property, has led officers to do more to squelch
the issue.
“The city business owners are tired of it and we are too,”
he said.
Officers plan to start writing criminal-trespass citations to
violators, and Stigers said repeat offenders would be arrested.
Third-degree criminal trespass is a class-B misdemeanor punishable
by up to 12 months in prison and a fine up to $500.
“If they’re within city limits, they’re going
to be cited,” Stigers said.
Owenton Police Chief Terry Gentry, Mayor David “Milkweed”
Wotier and the Owen County Sheriff’s Department have expressed
support for the action, Stigers said, adding that the county sheriffs
department and the Kentucky State Police would assist city officers
in enforcing the parking-lot crack down.
Stigers said business owners have also complained about people
leaving their cars in parking lots after hours.
They can request for the city to tow cars at the owners’
expense, Stigers said. However, the parking-lot enforcement could
impact more than just drivers.
Stigers said the trespass citations will apply to passengers hanging
out after hours, too.
“Anyone who’s there, period,” he said.
Grand jury indicts two men on multiple burglary, theft charges
An Owen County grand jury indicted Tony C. Broughton, 31, and
Jackie R. Broughton, 35, on three felony burglary counts and four
felony receiving-stolen-property counts on Dec. 12. The two men
also both face a class-A misdemeanor count of receiving stolen
property.
The charges stem from a string of thefts from Owen County properties
that occurred between Nov. 13 and Nov. 26.
Owen County Sheriff Zemer Hammond said a tip from an informant
and resulting investigation led officers to arrest the men.
They are accused of breaking into a barn and stealing items, including
an air-conditioning unit at one residence, taking a car and other
property from another residence, and metal fencing from a third
property.
Hammond said some of the property was sold to junkyards and recovered.
The car, an older Mercedes that was being restored, was recovered
at a Lexington junkyard, though it had already been smashed, Hammond
said.
The Sheriff’s office also recovered some items that have
yet to be reported stolen.
An indictment by a grand jury does not imply guilt, only that
there is enough evidence for a person to be charged with a crime.
The two men are being held on a $25,000 cash bond. No court date
had been scheduled as of Friday.
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