Graylon Jerome Newman is free on a $7,000 bond after being arrested the same day the Copperhill house he was living in burned.
Newman, 54, of 193 West Tennessee Avenue, was arrested by Polk County Deputy Sheriff Tyler Nelms Friday, February 5, at 7:19 p.m.
Captain Keith Barker of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said East Polk Fire Chief Brian Todd had called for law enforcement. The fire department had been called back to scene of the early morning fire on West Tennessee Avenue when it flared up. Todd reported that Newman was digging in the rubble.
Nelms arrested Newman on a failure to appear warrant out of General Sessions Court. At the time, Barker said Nelms also found a glass pipe, marijuana and some unidentified pills. The suspect was charged with unlawful drug paraphernalia and simple possession/casual exchange.
Following his arrest, Newman was held in the Polk County Detention Center in Benton without bond. According to court and detention center records, after a hearing Wednesday, February 17, Newman was released under a $7,000 bond and his failure to appear case was bound over to the grand jury.
He was ordered to return to court May 24. The misdemeanor drug charges were nolle processed.
Newman is facing charges connected with his December 12, 2018, arrest in connection with a fire that burned a Ducktown home.
Those charges include three felonies, conspiracy to commit setting fire to personal property or land, setting fire to personal property or land, vandalism; and two misdemeanors, unlawful drug paraphernalia and manufacture/delivery/sale/possession of methamphetamine. He was released December 14, 2018, on those charges.
At the time Newman’s West Tennessee Avenue residence burned, he told McCaysville Police Chief Mike Earley that an accident involving a kerosene heater was a fault.