Three men accused of abduction in separate cases and two people accused of shooting from their vehicles were among those indicted last week by a Smyth County grand jury.
Grand jurors indicted 22-year-old Amaya Marie Beatrice Hickman on a charge of discharging a firearm from a vehicle charge.
Hickman’s May 2024 arrest came hours after her brother, Andre Hickman, was accused of shooting a man near the Marion Farmer’s Market. Police say the shooting came after an altercation during the course of a child custody exchange.
The wounded man was airlifted to a Tennessee hospital where he was treated for serious injuries and released after undergoing multiple surgeries.
According to a criminal complaint filed by Marion Det. Sgt. Wes Thomas, police responded to the area again to reports of gunfire near South Iron Street later that night.
A short time later, officers located the vehicle the suspect was in on Highway 16, traveling in the direction of Tazewell County. According to the complaint, passengers inside the vehicle told police that Amaya Hickman had gone to the South Iron Street apartment in search of her brother’s child’s mother and kicked the door in.
The passengers told investigators that Hickman “shot several times out the window as they drove away,” Thomas wrote in the complaint.
No one was injured in the later incident.
Hickman, of Tazewell, was indicted on a charge of discharging a firearm from a vehicle. She is additionally charged with the reckless handling of a firearm and destruction of property.
Charged with malicious wounding, reckless handling of a firearm and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, Andre Hickman is awaiting a preliminary hearing in Smyth County General District Court set for April 17.
Amaya Hickman is scheduled for trial in Smyth County Circuit Court on June 11.
Grand jurors also indicted a 74-year-old Marion man on a charge of discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
According to court documents in that case, Virginia State Trooper C.R. O’Quinn responded to the scene of a vehicle crash in June.
“I arrived on scene to see a white Chevrolet pickup in the yard with front end damage and an apparent bullet hole in the windshield from the driver’s seat,” O’Quinn wrote in a criminal complaint.
Noting the presence of empty Fireball bottles in the truck, O’Quinn wrote that the driver, Richard Graham Gross, had an overwhelming smell of alcohol and was unable to stand on his own to perform field sobriety tests.
O’Quinn also found a loaded .40 caliber Taurus handgun beside the driver’s seat.
“After Miranda Rights, he stated he shot his truck after doing donuts in his parking lot and striking the tree,” O’Quinn wrote.
In the complaint, O’Quinn noted that Gross had shot in the direction of Highway 11 and that the incident took place just under 700 feet away from the Marion Church of God.
Gross also faces misdemeanor charges of discharging a firearm in public, driving under the influence, reckless driving and having an open container in the vehicle.
He is scheduled for trial in June.
Facing an abduction charge after reportedly brandishing a firearm at a utility worker, another Marion man was also indicted last week.
According to a criminal complaint in that case, the utility worker said he was checking a residential yard for utility lines in preparation for digging when he walked partially through the bushes adjoining a neighboring property. It was there, he told police, that a man, identified as Matthew Grant Graybeal, pointed a gun at him and told him not to move.
The utility worker then backed out of the bushes, according to the complaint and went back to his truck. He told police Graybeal had told him he would call police.
“While speaking with the accused, I asked if anyone had come on his property and he stated ‘no’,” wrote Marion Sgt. Jeff Horn. “When asked about a firearm, he said he did have one and had it out. I asked him if there had been a threat to his person and he advised that he did not want to answer any further questions without contacting his attorney.”
Graybeal was indicted on an abduction charge and faces an additional misdemeanor charge of brandishing a firearm.
He is scheduled for trial later this month.
The remaining two abduction indictments stem from separate domestic incidents.
The first occurred in November when, according to court documents, Smyth County deputies responded to a domestic call on Currin Valley Road in which a woman told dispatchers, “He’s got a gun.”
The caller was able to leave the home before law enforcement arrived. Once on scene, the suspect, 35-year-old Walter J. Nelson III, told deputies that he and his wife had gotten into an argument.
During an interview, Nelson’s wife said the altercation began after she declined to buy Nelson a pack of cigarettes. When she attempted to leave the home, she told police Nelson jumped on top of her, hit her in the face with his fist “and told her that she or the baby wasn’t going anywhere,” Deputy Cristian Centeno wrote in a criminal complaint.
The woman told the deputy that she called 911 and ran outside to her car where Nelson again hit her in the face. Once inside the car, the woman said Nelson also got in and pointed a handgun to her head “and told her to hang up the phone or he was going to kill her.”
The woman reported that Nelson then got out of the car “and grabbed her dog and started choking it, telling her that he was going to break its neck if she left.”
The woman told Centeno that as she backed her vehicle out of the driveway, Nelson pointed the firearm at her through the windshield and told her to hang up the phone.
Nelson was indicted on charges of abduction and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He is additionally charged with misdemeanor assault and battery of a family member, brandishing a firearm and preventing a 911 communication.
He is scheduled for trial on April 30.
Likewise, grand jurors indicted 44-year-old Roy Joshua Burke, who is accused of blocking a driveway to prevent his girlfriend from leaving a Dover Street home.
When police arrived, the girlfriend’s car was over an embankment, according to court documents. Marion Officer John Blevins wrote in a criminal complaint that the woman said she was trying to leave when Burke blocked her in with his van.
The woman told the officer that Burke then got out of his vehicle and began punching the driver’s side window and windshield. Blevins noted that the windshield was busted and blood was observed on a window.
The woman told police that Burke had assaulted her the previous night and would not let her call 911. A video collected by police, Blevins said, “shows Burke pick up the device and tell her that she needs to show him what’s on her phone or he will beat her brains out.”
In addition to the abduction charge, Burke is charged with misdemeanor assault and battery of a family member.
He is scheduled for trial on April 16.
Others indicted during the March grand jury session include the following:
Ronnie John James, 74, of Marion, was indicted on a strangulation charge.
Roman Gonzalez-Diaz, 47, of Marion, was indicted on charges of third-offense assault and battery of a family member, and assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.
Charles Derek Bell, 43, of Marion, was indicted on two counts assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.
Kyle Alan Miller, 36, of Petersburg, was indicted on an assault and battery of a law enforcement officer charge.
Donnie Lee Rose, 41, of Marion, was indicted on three counts destruction of property and one count eluding police.
Dillard Lee Smith, 60, of Sugar Grove, was indicted on a charge of failing to stop at the scene of a vehicle crash.
William James Teaters, 32, of Glade Spring, was indicted on an eluding police charge.
Anothony Shane Teaters, 29, of Chilhowie, was indicted on charges of grand larceny and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Ricky James Woodard, 32, of Abingdon, was indicted on charges of identity fraud and forging a public document.
Loretta Lynn Anders, 53, of Salem, was indicted on two counts tampering with a vending machine and two counts possession of burglarious tools.
Steven Michael Enfield, 48, of Marion, was indicted on charges of distributing weapons of terrorism (fentanyl), possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and transporting methamphetamine into Virginia.
Andrea Renee Barr, 42, of Glade Spring, was indicted on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
James Doughlas Ryan, 44, of Wytheville, was indicted on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Charles Michael Funk, 30, of Marion, was indicted on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Jennifer Marie Call, 46, of Saltville, was indicted on two counts possession of methamphetamine and one count eluding police.
Trevor Alexander Billings, 33, of Marion, was indicted on two counts possession of methamphetamine.
Brandon Allen Snead, 35, of Chilhowie was indicted on two counts possession of methamphetamine.
Michael Chad French, 47, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Jason Ray Edwards, 42, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Dean Edward Martin, 33, of Sugar Grove, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Larry Allen Rogers, 47, unknown address, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Amanda Dawn Mitchell, 40, of Abingdon, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
John Wayne Hess, 42, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
James William Harris, 50, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Michael Logan Weyant, 30, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Austin Blake Marean, 23, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Tyger Perkins, 39, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Heather Brianna Frye, 38, of Marion, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Jonathan Harvey McNutt, 52, of Glade Spring, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Megan Marie Holmes, 30, of Meadowview, was indicted on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
Those indicted will stand trial in Smyth County Circuit Court.
