EXTRA CONTENT: Drug arrest led to police raid on north Corbin truck stop, video poker machines confiscated

Read the affidavit filed by investigators in advance of the raid Wednesday.

Acting on information obtained following a recent drug arrest, officers with HIDTA’s (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Two Rivers Drug Task Force converged on a north Corbin truck stop around 7 p.m. Wednesday evening to serve a search warrant as a slew of illegal gambling machines, as well as a countless amount of cash, were confiscated.

The search and seizure was sparked by a pair of drug arrests made by O’Neill just two days earlier.

According to court documents, those arrested were Michael Hill and Angela Parker, both of Knoxville, and both of which had admittedly been selling illegal prescription drugs near the I-75 Exit 29 for quite some time.

As stated in a federal affidavit filed by O’Neill, officers had received information that Hill and Parker were staying at the Knights Inn hotel in north Corbin and trafficking Oxyconton pills, ranging from 40 mg. to 80 mg.

The document states that on June 28, around 8:45 p.m., O’Neill observed a vehicle, driven by Hill and occupied also by Parker, leave Knights Inn and park in the Burger King parking lot, also at Exit 29. After parking nearby, O’Neill said he saw a silver Ford pickup truck, which was eventually discovered to be driven by Kyle Barton, of Woodbine, approach Hill’s car and make a hand-to-hand exchange with Hill.

O’Neill followed the truck, which was eventually stopped near Woodbine and after questioning Barton, discussed and arranged for Barton to contact Hill to set up another transaction.

Hill agreed to meet Barton a second time and when the two made the transaction in the parking lot of Pilot, also at Exit 29, Hill was searched by U.S. Forest Service Officer, Michael Harrison, and arrested by O’Neill.

Once he was arrested, Hill was transported to the Corbin Police Department where he admitted to selling the pills in southeast Kentucky for about four years.

Hill said he brings in approximately 60-70 pills per weekend and sells 50-60 of them on average.

As for the gambling machines, Hill stated that he normally arrives at the Corbin Travel Plaza (referred to as King’s Truck Stop in the affidavit) late Fridays and plays the poker machines and meets people to sell the pills. Hill admitted that he has been paid as much as $13,000 in winnings from the machines.

Hill went on to state that he rent a room at the Knights Inn and sleeps during the day and gets up to sell the pills and play poker in the evening.

Agents loaded 18 of the video poker machines one after another on to a pull behind trailer outside the Corbin Travel Plaza (formerly known as King’s Truck Stop), while inside, officers searched portions of the building for any pertinent evidence in the case. 
In all, 18 machines were seized and as for the amount of cash discovered, the lead investigator in the case, HIDTA Special Agent Bob O’Neill, said he wouldn’t want to speculate on the total.

"We have 18 machines that we have confiscated and I would be afraid to even make a guess at how much cash there was," O’Neill said. "There were some stacks that were an inch thick (gesturing with his hands) and there were some that were maybe six inches thick.

"We will take the money to be counted in the morning before we return with the evidence with the search warrant," he added.  
The business was owned by the late Jerry Garland, but O’Neill said it was yet to be determined whose name the business is in since Garland’s death a few months ago. Even the store manager stated that as far as she knew, "everyone was really in limbo since the passing of Garland."

O’Neill also said, based on an employee’s statement, that the machines have been there for quite some time.

"One of the clerks in there said he has been here for seven years and the machines have always been in there," O’Neill said.
No arrests were made Wednesday night, but O’Neill said employees could possibly face criminal charges if the powers that be see fit to pursue them.

"We will present what we have to the Commonwealth and they will determine where to go from there," O’Neill said.
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