Previous Story
UPDATED: Three nabbed late Thursday in Barbourville Street Hill bootlegging bust now free on bond
Posted On 18 Dec 2009
Three Corbin residents were arrested by police late Thursday night for allegedly running a bootlegging operation out of their Barbourville Street home.
A confidential informant for the Corbin Police Department made a second successful purchase at the 94 Barbourville Street home and authorities quickly followed up with a search warrant at about 10:30 p.m.
Arrested in the raid were Billy Ray Eaton, 64; his nephew Steve Eaton, 29, and Brenda Smith, 69, all of Corbin. Smith, police say, is the homeowner.
Billy Eaton was charged with illegal possession of alcohol in a dry territory second offense, and three counts of drug possession.
Steve Eaton and Brenda Smith were each charged with illegal transportation of alcohol in a dry territory and three counts of drug possession.
"We’ve got a bunch of calls on it and complaints for the last six months about it going on up here," said Corbin K-9 Officer Coy Wilson who is leading the investigation. "We’ve been watching them."
Wilson said he plans to charge all three with illegal sale of alcohol in a dry territory, a misdemeanor offense. For Bill and Steve Eaton, police say this will be their second bootlegging arrest within the last six months. They were arrested Sept. 4 this year for selling alcohol in the parking lot of the Tri-County Square Shopping Center.
"He (Billy Eaton) said he wasn’t doing anything illegal," Wilson said Bill Eaton told him when police arrived at the house with a search warrant. "He said he’d already been caught once and he wouldn’t do anything stupid like that again."
Police seized dozens of cases of beer from the home and sitting in the bed of a truck parked outside the residence. Also discovered were numerous bottles of various brands of whiskey, vodka and other liquors. Receipts were discovered showing recent purchase of the alcohol. Wilson said only a nominal amount of money was taken by police. All told 720 cans of beer (approximately 30 cases) and 59 bottles of various type of liquor were seized.
Additionally, authorities discovered some prescription pain pills that did not appear to be in their proper containers.
The Eatons were released from the Knox County Jail last week on a $5,000 cash bond. Smith was released Monday on a $2,500 cash bond.
Assisting Wilson in the raid were officers Rick Baker, Shannon Jones, Glenn Taylor Jr., and Steve Meadors.
One Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Oh mark m please ,there have always been drinkers in this town and any other town for that matter.at least this way the bootleggers will and are bing shut down.and for that matter at least the kids wont be getting it illegally any more with the bootleggers out of the running.mark you are like so manny narrow minded indivduals here. you need to get out of corbin and see the wide open world around you .make liquor sale in packaged stores legal and not make the restraunts so packed with alcohol sales.its better off in a liquor store not in restraunts.where family gather with their children for an evening night out.with out the show of alcohol.
there should be packaged liquer stores here that sells alcohol.and not just in restraunts there are way to many drunks driving home from their local restraunt .make liquar stores to sell alcohol.and yes i do agree with douch bag in all areas.to many politicans to many fat wallets and when you do go to a restraunt the bar is full and no one is eating their all just drinking and the driving to where who knows and how far.
2 many drinkers in this town
Growing up in the Tri-County area, bootlegging has always been a problem and a part of life. When we as citizens decide to demand excellence in performance we will ask the prosecutors, detectives and court system to prosecute these folks accordingly. Has anyone ever thought that Al Capone was finally jailed on tax evasion. What about these bootleggers? do the math: 1 case of beer @ 10.00 x 200 cases. Quite a bit of revenew not being taxed. That affects our schools, public workers and community! When are we going to move to the 21st Century? If people want alcohol, they need to go to the legal places that sell it.
In the internet site below you will find a puppet , if you click in the middle of its stomach you will help to finance meals for from poor families in Poland. It does not cost you anything.., some polish companies pay for each click and ,the money collected in this way, is spent on meals for children from poor families.
http://www.pajacyk.pl
I agree with the douche bag.
Why the hell dont they just allow ppl to sell it around here…..ohh its ok for resturants to rip ppl off by overcharging them for alcohol and then they have to drive home drunk from the “bar”….stupid law…..this town needs to grow the hell up and come into the 20th century….everyone is hooked on illegal pills around here now…maybe selling alcohol legally would help some of that problem….after all people are going to drink even if they have to drive 30 miles to get beer or 60 to get booze….whats the bfd?? ppl just buy it illegally….so why not make it legal….pretty much is in every other state…..and most of the towns in kentucky…so whats so special about corbin…nothin far as i can see…..this is a **** hole town that doesnt give a **** about its people….all the politicians steal and get away with it….and the drug problem in this area is unreal….yet cops have the time to arrest children for drawing in the sidewalk…yea like no one ever did that when they were a kid….this town needs to get its priorities in order…..why are we busting ppl for selling alcohol when you can drive a mere 30 miles away from corbin to buy it and legally drink in corbin….they sell in the resturants so why not sell it to the public for ppl that dont want to operate a car while they have had a few to many. A recent place i was eating at let 2 men leave extremely intoxicated….i was wondering how they were going to get home…then i saw them drive away….what a waste…..at least if they sold it in the stores then you could go home and drink safely without having to drive yourself home….who the hell are the ppl hurting by buying alcohol….i mean after all you are allowed to have alcohol…drink alcohol and buy alcohol in the state of Kentucky….so i guess we don’t want to be like the rest of the state….maybe that’s why the rest of the state seems to be growing and all that grows around Corbin are ppls bellies from too much fast food and the politicians wallets from the bribes and kickbacks and cheating….
Why the hell dont they just allow ppl to sell it around here…..ohh its ok for resturants to rip ppl off by overcharging them for alcohol and then they have to drive home drunk from the “bar”….stupid law…..this town needs to grow the hell up and come into the 20th century….everyone is hooked on illegal pills around here now…maybe selling alcohol legally would help some of that problem….after all people are going to drink even if they have to drive 30 miles to get beer or 60 to get booze….whats the bfd?? ppl just buy it illegally….so why not make it legal….pretty much is in every other state…..and most of the towns in kentucky…so whats so special about corbin…nothin far as i can see…..this is a **** hole town that doesnt give a **** about its people….all the politicians steal and get away with it….and the drug problem in this area is unreal….yet cops have the time to arrest children for drawing in the sidewalk…yea like no one ever did that when they were a kid….this town needs to get its priorities in order…..why are we busting ppl for selling alcohol when you can drive a mere 30 miles away from corbin and legally drink in corbin….they sell in the resturants so why not sell it to the public for ppl that dont want to operate a car while they have had a few to many. A recent place i was eating at let 2 men leave extremely intoxicated….i was wondering how they were going to get home…then i saw them drive away….what a waste…..at least if they sold it in the stores then you could go home and drink safely without having to drive yourself home….who the hell are the ppl hurting by buying alcohol….i mean after all you are allowed to have alcohol…drink alcohol and buy alcohol in the state of Kentucky….so i guess we don’t want to be like the rest of the state….maybe that’s why the rest of the state seems to be growing and all that grows around Corbin are ppls bellies from too much fast food and the politicians wallets from the bribes and kickbacks and cheating….