By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A July 4 report, that a “possible romantic encounter” was occurring inside a vehicle parked in the lot of a closed business on Swift Mill Road, led to the arrest by Atmore police of a local man on a charge of trafficking in Ecstasy tablets.
According to police reports, the first APD officer arrived around 11:20 p.m. and “detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle,” which was still running.
The odor of alcohol and the running engine led to standard field sobriety tests for the driver, 37-year-old Gregory Terrance Keith Farmer, along with a request for consent to search the vehicle.
The search yielded “dozens of pills which were identified as Ecstasy,” and Farmer was placed under arrest on one count of drug trafficking. Reports did not indicate that any other individuals were arrested.
He remained in the Escambia County Detention Center (ECDC) Monday afternoon, July 15.
Denise Lynn Winjum
A Baldwin County woman with four prior driving under the influence convictions in the past 10 years, was arrested July 4 by Atmore police for felony DUI several days after officers responded to a May 31 report of a reckless driver near the intersection of East Nashville Avenue and Medical Park Drive.
Officers were sent to the area around 7:10 p.m., and one noted the vehicle was “failing to maintain its lane of travel.” When the city lawman contacted the driver, Denise Lynn Winjum, 45, of Fairhope, he “detected a strong odor of alcohol and other indications that she was under the influence,” reports show.
Winjum failed a field sobriety test, and was taken to Atmore Municipal Jail, where she was held on a charge of DUI.
A review of Winjum’s criminal history revealed she has had four DUI convictions in the last 10 years, a warrant charging felony DUI was obtained, and she was re-arrested. Her case will reportedly be processed through Escambia County District Court instead of Atmore Municipal Court.
The Fairhope woman was freed on bond July 8.
Tyler Lee Walter Reeve
Charges against an Atmore man, initially misdemeanor attempting to elude officers, were upgraded to felony level after city police investigators determined that he not only had a child with him but exceeded the speed limit by 20 mph while trying to shake police.
The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on June 26 when an APD officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Jack Springs Road after witnessing a vehicle failing to maintain its lane of travel.
Reports show that when the officer activated his blue lights, the vehicle accelerated and continued northward before finally stopping in Big Oak Trailer Park.
The driver, 30-year-old Tyler Lee Walter Reeve, refused several verbal commands to exit the vehicle, instead questioning for several minutes the officer’s knowledge of jurisdictional boundaries.
Once Reeve was taken into custody the officer discovered that a child was in the vehicle during the pursuit, so initial charges of attempting to elude a police officer, resisting arrest, and endangering the welfare of a child were lodged against him.
According to reports, he posted bond and was released from the Atmore Municipal Jail, but an analysis of the officer’s GPS showed that Reeve exceeded the posted speed limit by more than 20 miles per hour during the chase.
An arrest warrant for felony attempt to elude was obtained, and Reeve was re-arrested and booked into the ECDC on July 8. He was released from the facility on bond July 12.
Layton Deleon Frye
An Atmore man was arrested July 5 by city police who responded to a report of “a disturbance involving firearms.”
Police were sent around 12:10 a.m. to the area of Martin Luther King Drive and Terrace Street, where they encountered Layton Deleon Frye, 20.
According to reports, Frye was in possession of a stolen handgun and a small amount of a green, leafy substance that field-tested positive for marijuana. He is charged with one count each of second-degree receiving stolen property, a Class C felony, and second-degree possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.
He was released from jail on bond July 8.
Lawanna Dytisha Hurst
An Atmore woman was arrested July 8 by city police in connection to an incident that occurred 10 months ago.
The original incident took place around 3 p.m. on September 16, 2023. Reports show that Atmore officers were sent to a residence near the junction of North Main Street and Brooks Lane in reference to a criminal mischief complaint.
Police discovered that the victim and 43-year-old Lawanna Dytisha Hurst had been involved in an on-going dispute. Hurst reportedly caused several thousand dollars in damage to the victim’s vehicle.
An arrest warrant was obtained by city detectives and served on Hurst at the county jail, from which she was released on bond a few hours after her arrest.
Kenneth Wayne Rolin
An Atmore man was arrested July 8 after pills that were seized from his vehicle during a June 28 traffic stop were found to contain a substance that is controlled under Alabama law.
Police reports show the incident happened around 2 a.m. when an APD patrol officer “observed a vehicle on Jack Springs Road without a license plate” and pulled the vehicle over. The officer’s report included that during the policeman’s interaction with the driver, 68-year-old Kenneth Wayne Rolin, he asked for and was granted consent to search the vehicle.
The officer discovered more than a dozen pills in the vehicle that he was unable to immediately identify, so the pills were seized in order to have them properly identified. Rolin, who was arrested June 14 for possession of crack cocaine after his car, with no tag, was stopped in the middle of an intersection, was released pending identity of the pills.
The pills turned out to be Kratom, and narcotics investigators obtained an arrest warrant charging Rolin with possession of a controlled substance. He was freed on bond July 12.
Nakia Raquel Buxton
An Atmore woman was arrested July 2 in connection with the June theft of thousands of dollars worth of copper wiring from an Atmore business.
According to police reports, APD was notified around 2:15 a.m. by the local business of a theft that had occurred a few days prior to the report.
An APD investigator worked with the victim and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office to identify the suspects, and Nakia Raquel Buxton, 48, was taken into custody.
Buxton was booked into the ECDC July 2 and released on bond July 5. Police said the case is still under investigation, and additional arrests are possible.
Tiffany Renee Phillip Turner
Jail records show that Atmore police arrested a 38-year-old local woman July 9 on a felony drug possession charge.
No details of the arrest were available, but according to the ECDC website, Tiffany Renee Phillip Turner was processed into the facility on one count each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
She was released from jail on bond July 10.
Kiauna Shanne Grice
City police arrested a Flomaton woman July 7 after she led officers on a high-speed chase when they attempted to pull her vehicle over for having no tag.
According to police reports, the incident occurred around 5:35 p.m., when reports came in to dispatchers of a vehicle being driven recklessly along U.S. 31, between Canoe and Atmore. The person who called in the complaint also notified emergency dispatchers that the occupants in the vehicle “appeared to be arguing.”
The vehicle, which didn’t have a license plate, was spotted at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Medical Park Drive by an officer who activated his blue lights to conduct a traffic stop.
When he did, the driver of the vehicle, later identified as 33-year-old Kiauna Shanne Grice, pulled into a gas station at the intersection, then suddenly headed back toward Canoe, reaching speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour during the pursuit.
Grice eventually pulled over between Canoe and Flomaton and was taken into custody.
She is charged with one count of felony attempting to elude a police officer. Grice had a set of digital scales in her vehicle and was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and with driving while her license is revoked or suspended.
She was released on bond July 8.
Chasen Daniel Wynn
A 21-year-old Atmore man was arrested July 11 by sheriff’s deputies who investigated a domestic violence incident at an undisclosed location.
No details were available, but the ECDC website shows that Chasen Daniel Wynn was jailed on one count each of first-degree domestic violence and second-degree criminal mischief.
The domestic violence charge is a Class A felony that occurs when a person commits (a) assault in the first degree, (b) aggravated stalking, or (c) first-degree burglary, and the victim is a “current or former spouse, parent, step-parent, child, step-child, any person with whom the defendant has a child in common, a present household member, or a person who has or had a dating relationship with the defendant.”
The criminal mischief charge is a Class A misdemeanor that occurs if there is between $500 and $2,500 worth of damage. Wynn was released on bond July 12.
Willie Gordan Hadley
According to county jail records, a 55-year-old Atmore man was arrested July 1 on a felony drug possession charge.
The ECDC website shows that Willie Gordan Hadley was processed into the facility on one count each of possession of a controlled substance (unspecified) and possession of drug paraphernalia. The arresting agency is not listed on jail records.
He was released on bond July 2.