Published: July 02, 2009 08:41 am      

Drugs sold for years at Exit 29

Slot machines also found during sting

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

The arrest of a Knoxville couple, who had reportedly sold oxycodone at I-75 Exit 29 for the past several years, also led to the discovery of illegal gambling machines at a North Corbin gas station.

Just before midnight Sunday, Michael Hill and Angela Parker, an unmarried couple who live just off Chapman Highway in Knoxville, were arrested after they were caught in a “sting” operation selling prescription drugs.

During a detention hearing in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Robert O’Neill testified that a prisoner named Jason Harmon, who was serving time in the Whitley County jail on parole violation charges, told him that Hill and Parker did weekly business at the interstate exit.

So, O’Neill and Officer Edward Hedrick of the Two Rivers Drug Task Force began to investigate the Knight’s Inn at Exit 29, which had been identified as the couple’s headquarters when they came to North Corbin.

At about 10 a.m. Sunday, O’Neill spotted Hill’s gold Buick at the motel.

That night at about 8:45 p.m., O’Neill testified that he saw a couple drive away from the motel in the car and proceed to the nearby Burger King restaurant.

There, about five minutes later, a man — later identified as Kyle Barton — parked his Ford pickup next to the Buick and approached the driver’s side door. The two men exchanged something, and the truck driver returned to his vehicle and left.

O’Neill followed Barton’s truck down I-75 to Exit 25, through downtown Corbin, and onto KY 26.

A Corbin police officer stopped the vehicle at the KY 26 and KY 6 intersection.

O’Neill said he questioned Barton about the Burger King transaction, and Barton admitted he had bought six 80-mg oxycodone tablets from Hill for $420. He said he had been buying oxycodone from Hill and Parker since 2001.

Barton reportedly told O’Neill that over the past eight years, he had bought more than a thousand of the pills and spent more than $100,000, including spending $350 for five 80-mg tablets the night before at King’s Truck Stop.

“Barton stated he could call Mike Hill and request more Oxycontin pills,” O’Neill stated in his affidavit.

So at about 11:20 p.m. that same night, Barton called Hill and set up a second purchase at the Pilot Truck Stop. O’Neill gave Barton four $20 bills to purchase one tablet.

About ten minutes later, Hill arrived at the truck stop and parked in front of the McDonald’s restaurant. When O’Neill saw Hill begin to complete the alleged drug deal with Barton, he ordered Hill out of the car. USFS Officer Michael Harrison searched Hill and found two prescription bottles — one with four 80-mg oxycodone tablets and the other with twenty-five 40-mg tablets. They also found the four $20 bills furnished to Barton and $210 more in cash.

Hill was arrested.

Across the road at King’s Truck Stop, Angela Parker was arrested in a room in which slot machines were kept and used. As police were taking Parker away, a cashier told Parker she had won some $1,700 while playing the illegal gambling devices.

A search of Parker’s purse found $4,325 in U.S. currency, sixteen 40-mg oxycodone tablets, seventeen 20-mg oxycodone tablets, 26 unidentified blue pills and 116 unidentified white pills.

By 1:15 a.m. Monday at the Corbin Police Department, O’Neill was questioning Hill, who had waived his Miranda rights. Hill reportedly told O’Neill that he had been coming to southeast Kentucky, including Laurel County, to sell oxycodone for about four years.

O’Neill said Hill was using the money “to provide for his children,” referring to Parker’s 18-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.

Hill told the officer he routinely brought 60 to 70 of the pills per week and sold an average of 50 to 60 each weekend. For the past four years, he has netted between $1,500 to $2,000 each weekend, making as much as $2,800 in a single run.

Hill said his customer base is about 10 people each weekend — many of whom he reportedly met around the gambling and poker machines King’s Truck Stop. Hill reportedly said he would rent a room at Knight’s Inn Saturday mornings, sleep the day away, then go back to King’s to sell more oxycodone.

O’Neill said Hill added that he has won up to $13,000 on the poker machines.

Hill also told O’Neill he did about 99 percent of the selling, and Parker did about one percent.

At about the same time, Officer Hedrick was questioning Parker, who also waived her rights, O’Neill’s affidavit states.

She reportedly told Hedrick that earlier that night, she had gotten a call from Barton who wanted to speak to Hill. The men talked and agreed on the Burger King meeting, where Hill sold oxycodone to Barton for “300 or 400 dollars.”

She reportedly told Hedrick she had been coming to Corbin with Hill for the past two years, and that Hill had been coming to sell the pills for several years. When asked if she had sold any of the tablets, Parker said she didn’t want to incriminate herself.

O’Neill reported that a search of the motel room netted nothing useful, and Parker was taken to the Laurel Count Detention Center.

Hill was taken to the jail after he was examined at Baptist Regional Medical Center following complaints of shoulder pain.

Magistrate Judge Robert Weir said the pair would remain in detention until he determined whether they would be released on bond or detained. He also questioned the legality of the truck stop’s gambling machines.

Thursday evening, those gambling machines were reportedly seized by O’Neill and other officers. See Friday’s Times-Tribune for more on that story.