Posted 10:17 pm Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Send to Kindle
BREAKING NEWS: Upshur County Commissioner, Son Released On Reduced Bonds
BY PHILLIP WILLIAMS
Special Correspondent
Special Correspondent
GILMER — A former Upshur County commissioner and his adult son, accused of holding a state game warden at gunpoint in an incident last October, were released from Upshur County Jail Wednesday after a judge lowered their bonds, District Attorney Billy Byrd said.
Former Precinct 3 Commissioner Lloyd Allen Crabtree, 51, and Todd A. Crabtree, 28, were released about 6 p.m. on bonds of $150,000 for the elder Crabtree and $100,000 for his son, Byrd said. Lauren Parish, 115th district judge, entered an order Wednesday granting the defendants’ request to lower their original bonds of $1.5 million each.
A hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday on reducing the bonds was canceled. The Crabtrees’ attorney, Longview lawyer Clifton (Scrappy) Holmes, had moved to lower the amount, contending it was excessive because, “They were from this county and they weren’t a flight risk,” Byrd said.
However, Judge Parish imposed several conditions on the men’s release, including that they must surrender all their firearms and ammunition to a Texas Ranger at the Texas Department of Public Safety office in Gilmer by 6 p.m. Thursday, the district attorney said.
Former Precinct 3 Commissioner Lloyd Allen Crabtree, 51, and Todd A. Crabtree, 28, were released about 6 p.m. on bonds of $150,000 for the elder Crabtree and $100,000 for his son, Byrd said. Lauren Parish, 115th district judge, entered an order Wednesday granting the defendants’ request to lower their original bonds of $1.5 million each.
A hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday on reducing the bonds was canceled. The Crabtrees’ attorney, Longview lawyer Clifton (Scrappy) Holmes, had moved to lower the amount, contending it was excessive because, “They were from this county and they weren’t a flight risk,” Byrd said.
However, Judge Parish imposed several conditions on the men’s release, including that they must surrender all their firearms and ammunition to a Texas Ranger at the Texas Department of Public Safety office in Gilmer by 6 p.m. Thursday, the district attorney said.
The Crabtrees also must forfeit any passports they may have and turn them in to the Upshur County District Clerk’s office, Byrd said. In addition, among other conditions of their release, they cannot go within one mile of any peace officer involved in the charges against them, nor have any contact with them.
An Upshur County grand jury indicted the Crabtrees Friday on multiple charges arising from the alleged incident Oct. 6 in rural Upshur County. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden Shane Bailey was disarmed and detained by two armed men while he was making a routine check for hunting law violations on private property, according to a news release issued Friday by the department.
Lloyd Crabtree, who was still a county commissioner at the time of the alleged incident, was indicted on three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, which Byrd said involved threats to shoot three officers; one count of taking a weapon from a peace officer; and one count of unlawful restraint with a deadly weapon.
Todd Crabtree was indicted on one count each of all of those three offenses. No shots were fired in the confrontation.
No trial date has been set. Lloyd Crabtree left office at year’s end, having been defeated for reelection in last May’s Republican primary.
An Upshur County grand jury indicted the Crabtrees Friday on multiple charges arising from the alleged incident Oct. 6 in rural Upshur County. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden Shane Bailey was disarmed and detained by two armed men while he was making a routine check for hunting law violations on private property, according to a news release issued Friday by the department.
Lloyd Crabtree, who was still a county commissioner at the time of the alleged incident, was indicted on three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, which Byrd said involved threats to shoot three officers; one count of taking a weapon from a peace officer; and one count of unlawful restraint with a deadly weapon.
Todd Crabtree was indicted on one count each of all of those three offenses. No shots were fired in the confrontation.
No trial date has been set. Lloyd Crabtree left office at year’s end, having been defeated for reelection in last May’s Republican primary.
