Published: September 17, 2008 08:23 am      

Mistaken Identity

Laurel CO. family held at gunpoint after police mistakenly identify wrong man

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

A Laurel County couple is consulting legal action after local law enforcement officers burst into their Sweet Hollow Estates home and held them at gunpoint while looking for the wrong Mr. Smith.

Local officials say they were acting on information from Jellico police, but the detective working the case with that department said he was unaware the warrant was being executed.

Laurel County Sheriff Fred Yaden said his deputies were looking for Charles Robert Smith — who was wanted on warrants from Jellico, Tenn. and Whitley County — when they knocked on the door of Robbie E. and Sheri Smith’s home at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

“My wife nudged me and said, ‘I think I hear the doorbell,’” Robbie Smith said. “And we kind of just sat there for a minute and sure enough the doorbell was rung four or five, kind of real quick, times in a row. So I jumped up, grabbed a shirt, walked through the kitchen, walked to the front door, and as I turned on the light I said, ‘who is it?’ As I looked out the door, I heard screaming, different things hollered at me, and I saw a man crouched through the window by the door with an assault-type rifle aimed at me.”

After Mr. Smith opened the door, officers rushed inside, weapons drawn.

“I heard people yelling ‘federal warrant, Laurel County Sheriff’s Department. Are you such-and-such,’” Mr. Smith said. “As I open the door, our alarm goes off. I’m trying to turn the alarm off and they keep yelling at me, ‘back away, get down, back away, get down, get on the floor.’”

Yaden said officers were looking for Charles Robert “Bobby” Smith, who was wanted on felony arrest warrants in both Jellico, Tenn. and Whitley County. Bobby Smith made headlines in July after he allegedly robbed a woman at gunpoint in Tennessee and led police on a chase in Whitley County before abandoning his car and eluding authorities.

Mr. Smith, whose build and hair matches the general description of Charles Robert Smith, was ordered to get down on his knees. When she emerged from the bedroom, his wife was met by a man holding a gun near her head and ordered to lie on the ground. Officers made a sweep through the home while the Smiths continued to question what was happening.

The Smiths have a 5-year-old son who slept through the ordeal and a 10-year-old daughter who was spending the night at a friend’s house.

“It was overwhelming, humiliating, terrifying,” Mrs. Smith said. “There were no explanations as to what was going on. It was very overwhelming. As a parent, I felt helpless, I was unable to get to my child or take care of my child.”

Within 30 minutes, officers realized they had the wrong house and left, but the Smiths feel they were given very little explanation for their ordeal. They say they were never shown an arrest warrant when the officers entered the house.

“Why was this done? Who made the mistake?” Mr. Smith said. “Someone in the chain of authority really messed up.”

The day after the incident, the Smiths consulted attorney David Hoskins about their late-night experience.

“They (Laurel County deputies) said that this man was a dangerous criminal, that Jellico or Whitley County or something like that had contacted them and they had come out here based on our phone number,” Mr. Smith said.

Yaden said his officers responded based on information from Whitley County, who had in turn received it from Jellico.

But Detective J.J. Hatmaker with the Jellico Police Department, who is investigating the Charles Robert Smith case, said he wasn’t aware that the warrant was being executed Saturday morning on the Smith residence in Laurel County.

Hatmaker said he received Robbie E. Smith’s phone number from a man in Tennessee whose 2005 GMC is believed by police to have been stolen by Charles Robert Smith. Charles Robert worked with the man for about two weeks before the truck went missing, and the fugitive had given Robbie E. Smith’s number as his contact. Hatmaker said Charles Robert Smith has been known to go by the names Robbie Smith and Bobbie Smith.

Hatmaker said he contacted Whitley County dispatch to check on the phone number and see if it indeed belonged to the wanted Charles Robert Smith.

“I don’t know who told them to do that,” Hatmaker said of the warrant execution. “I talked to a dispatcher at Whitley County and gave them the number and asked them if that was somebody they know of ... We only made one phone call up there to see who that phone number came back to. The only thing that we heard back, they asked us to fax our warrant to Whitley County dispatch. Where they took it from there, I don’t know.”

By the time the information reached the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department, Yaden thought his deputies were working off solid information.

“Whitley County and Jellico, Tenn. had felony warrants on this fellow, and Whitley County had the warrant in hand,” Yaden said. “This guy was to be considered armed and dangerous... After Det. Johnson talked to dispatcher (Jamie) Sloan, he himself calls Whitley County to verify this information.”

A call to Whitley County Lawrence Hodge was not returned Tuesday.

As far as the execution of the warrant, Yaden said his deputies followed protocol.

“I expect my officers to be safety conscience at all times,” Yaden said. “I want them to come home with no holes in them. Due to the fact that it was a warrant and how violent he (Charles Robert Smith) was... they placed him (Robbie Smith) and his wife on the floor. At no time did they assault anybody, at no time did they kick the door in or anyone else... In my opinion, these officers handled it exactly the way it should have been handled, and thank God nobody was hurt. I can see how they were aggravated about it.”

But the Smiths feel more than aggravated — they claim their civil rights were violated, and they don’t understand how the mistake was made.

“If I mess up in this world, I’m held accountable,” Mr. Smith said. “If I get caught doing something wrong at my work, driving down the road, I’m held accountable. When somebody else messes up, they need to be held accountable. Something needs to be done. Something that caused this situation needs to be fixed.”

The real Charles Robert Smith is still wanted on felony warrants. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call local law enforcement.