The Newport Plain Talk

Former assistant DA now aids feds in war on drugs Tracy Stone had worked with DAs Schmutzer and Dunn

If you wonder who is working to keep neighborhoods safer with less crime, look no further than the US Attorney's office in East Tennessee.

Updating Newport Kiwanis on the work of federal prosecutors recently was former Assistant District Attorney Tracy Stone, who is now with the Knoxville US Attorney's office.

Agent Stone is one of 41 such federal prosecutors in the Eastern Dist. Of Tenn., which includes 41 of the 95 counties, from Chattanooga to Johnson City. His area of special interest has switched from the violent crime division to the drug division.

For more than two years, he worked with then Dist. Attorney General Al Schmutzer, alongside such assistants as Jimmy Dunn. Before that, Stone was an attorney in Chattanooga but he wanted to do something other than private practice.

"I had few prouder days than when Jimmy won," he said of cases the prosecuted in the Fourth Judicial District. "He taught me well." Dunn is now the dist. attorney general. Stone went to work for US Attorney Russ Dedrick.

Although Stone has left the area, he remains a landowner in Del Rio and is still in touch with old friends such as Cocke County Chief Detective Robert Caldwell, who introduced him at the Kiwanis meeting.

He grew up in Texas and moved to Tenn. and got to know the law officers and justice system officials in Cocke and surrounding counties. When he is with justice dept. personnel, he "speaks highly of Cocke County."

The US Justice Dept. has specific national projects, which include Project Safe Neighborhood, organized drug task force, and Project Safe Childhood.

At the start of President Bush's first term in office, Project Safe Neighborhoods was the Justice dept.'s top priority, said Stone.

During the year, to date, six federal prosecutors who are dedicated to that project sent 83 defendants to prison, recorded 130 convictions and 140 indictments.

Stone said that one of the most common criminal acts is possession of firearms by felons. If they are arrested with a firearm, their parole is automatically abolished and "they do the time."

If a felon has three prior convictions and are arrested with a firearm in the commission of a crime, they could get from 15 years to life in prison. If drugs are involved, automatically add five years.

"There is not a day that goes by that we try to do something about the homicide problem in Knox County. For example, recently a woman was abducted from her motel room, and her body was found in a lake. A suspect in that murder is the Knox Co. motel employee.

The US attorney's office also prosecutes illegal tobacco sales in East Tenn., because, as Stone said, the illegal money is sent to terrorists to fund their activities.

The drug task force of which Stone is a part handles not only local drug dealers but extends to prosecute organizations in Columbia, Mexico, and the US.

Speaking about a local case that involved the murder of Cocke Countian Michael Grimes, Stone said the defendant Senter was a large cocaine dealer operating in Newport, Morristown, and Sevierville. He dealt in excess of 100 kilos ( 225 pounds) of cocaine.

The US attorney's investigation into Senter was on the verge of arresting him at the time of Grime's murder off I-40 in Cocke County.

Cocaine continues to be big business for criminals. Recently federal agents seized $2.5 million of the drug in Atlanta. The street price has risen to about $31,000 in East Tenn.

The US Attorney's office utilizes two prosecutors in Knoxville and nine in the E.T. Dist. to fight drugs and disrupt the drug chain and sales.

Agent Stone said that the newest initiative for federal prosecutors is Project Safe Childhood and its aim at Internet crimes against children, especially child pornography.

Another frequent crime in the US is bank robbery. On average there are 2,000 to 3,000 per year but those who commit such robberies almost always get caught, said Stone.

Of the 42 bank robberies in Knox County "we have cleared everyone of them."

He told a humorous story that happened earlier this year in Knox involving a reputed bank robber.

The FBI was looking for a suspect and aided by the US Attorney when they came across a man on Magnolia who looked familiar. The investigators casually asked the man, "Have you rob bed any banks lately?"

It turns out the man had in fact robbed a bank and put one of the marked dye pack stacks of bills in his pant's pocket. The dye pack exploded and the suspect still had burn on his leg.

He admitted to using the stolen money on female companionship, alcohol, and crack cocaine to "have the best weekend of my life." He was arrested and returned to prison.

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