MOUNT VERNON — A Knox County man submitted a guilty plea to a Bill of Information in Knox County Court of Common Pleas Thursday after he was charged with two counts of rape.
Jason Atkinson, 35, and his lawyer submitted the plea, which is a waiver of indictment and agreement to prosecution in court. With the plea, the defendant may voluntarily give up the his or her right to have the charge presented to the Grand Jury.
If convicted, the penalty would be three to 11 years in prison for each count, a $20,000 fine and five years of post release control after prison term. He would also have to register as a Tier 3 sex offender for life.
He is being held in jail on a $250,000 bond.
In other cases from Thursday:
Lisa M. Poole, 56, was arraigned on six counts for her involvement in a large-scale drug trafficking operation in and around Knox County. Her arraignment includes charges of aggravated trafficking of drugs, a first-degree felony, conspiracy to commit aggravated trafficking of drugs, a felony of the second degree, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony and permitting drug abuse, a fifth-degree felony, among others. She and one of her co-defendants, Kristy Crawford, 40, are both being held on $250,000 bonds.
Frederick D. Beaver Jr., 35, of Ashley, changed his earlier not guilty plea to guilty to one second-degree felony count of felonious assault, after he allegedly struck a man and sent him to the hospital. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a prison term between two and eight years.
James D Nelson II, 39, was arraigned, then submitted a guilty plea, then waived a PSI and was convicted and sentenced to 48 months in prison on two third-degree felonies; one of aggravated vehicular assault and one of failure to comply with order or signal of police. The charges stem from a car chase that involved police and resulted in a crash that hospitalized both Nelson and his female passenger.
