East Texas

By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer

HENDERSON -- A Rusk County grand jury indicted Brence Wayne Darragh for murder in a shooting investigators believe was related to the drug trade.

Altogether, grand jurors returned indictments this week in 46 cases, according to information released by County and District Attorney Micheal E. Jimerson.

Darragh, 25, of Henderson, was indicted for first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Michael Knight, 18, of Carlisle, with a rifle on July 8 after Knight came into Darragh's house and refused to leave, according to criminal investigator William Brown.

In the course of the investigation, officers discovered a disassembled methamphetamine lab in the residence and numerous chemicals, cooking apparatus and other items used to manufacture meth. Witnesses told deputies that Darragh and Hanna Alyse LePelley, 18, also of Henderson, had manufactured and sold meth from the residence.

Darragh is being held in the Rusk County Jail on $900,000 bond on the murder charge. Darragh and Ms. LePelley were also indicted for second-degree possession/transportation of certain chemicals with intent to manufacture controlled substances. Bond for Darragh on the drug charge was set at $50,000. Ms. LePelley was released from custody on the drug charge on a personal recognizance bond with conditions.

In an unrelated case, jurors indicted Jessica D. Medford, 23, of Longview, on a second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge for having allegedly used her vehicle on July 17 to ram a vehicle occupied by several people, severely injuring three of them, on U.S. Highway 259 about eight miles north of Henderson.

Bond was set at $35,000 for each of six counts of aggravated assault.

She was also charged with an accident involving injury, third degree. She failed to stop and render aid in the same incident after she forced the victims off the road and fled the scene, Brown said. Bond on that charge was set at $15,000.

Alfredo Aguilar, 28, Tatum, in a case involving a child under age 17 on July 6, who has been released on $150,000 bond; a56-year-old Tatum man

Charles Derwood Johnson, 56, Tatum, in cases involving two children under age 14 on July 14, who remains in custody; a 71-year-old Henderson man and James Paul Burks, 71, Henderson, in a case involving a child under age 17 on July 21, who is also in custody.

He is accused of causing bodily injury to his 10-week-old child, who remains in Children's Hospital in Dallas, after he allegedly shook the infant, the investigator said. He is also accused of endangering his 18-month-old child by leaving the child alone in the house with drugs, weapons and a pit bull accessible to the child.

Ms. Rankin, who remains in custody, was charged after Kilgore police attempted to apprehend her for a traffic violation, but she allegedly fled, prompting a high-speed chase by law officers on U.S. Highway 259. She eventually turned onto County Road 146 and then onto a pipeline right of way, then abandoned her car and fled on foot before being taken into custody. A search of the vehicle revealed a controlled substance and a check of her record showed outstanding warrants for violating her parole.

Others indicted are:

Albert Anthony Green Jr., 40, Henderson, theft (by check);