After months of delay, a trial date has been set for a Knoxville businessman’s lover accused of a cyberattack on her beau’s ex-wife during a contentious divorce battle.

Senior Judge Don R. Ash has set a Jan. 17 trial date for Allison Beaver Burchett, girlfriend of Bandit Lites founder and owner Mike Strickland and ex-wife of Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. Ash was tapped by the Tennessee Supreme Court to handle the case after Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword recused himself.

Sword and Mayor Burchett are both Republicans whose paths sometimes cross in political circles, prompting the judge to agree to Allison Burchett’s request for him to step away from the case.

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Allison Burchett is charged with six counts of identity theft, six counts of unlawful access to a computer and one count of creating a fake document to influence the divorce battle between her accuser, Jo Nicole Velasco Strickland, and her live-in boyfriend.

The September indictment came after a raid by the Knoxville Police Department — aided by federal agents — on the home Burchett and Michael Strickland share as well as on the offices of Bandit Lites, a global industry leader in lighting for concerts and other entertainment events such as the Country Music Association Awards.

Nicole Strickland also has filed a lawsuit against Burchett and her estranged husband, alleging Burchett’s crimes were part of a cyber siege against her in 2014 while she battled breast cancer, signed up for food assistance and fought to prove she was forced into signing a prenuptial agreement.

Attorneys in the lawsuit describe an attack on Strickland that included her identity being stolen, her electricity cut off, unauthorized purchases made from her bank accounts, photos from her mastectomy posted on her Facebook account with derogatory remarks, her cellphone hacked, her pharmacy records illegally accessed, a tracking device placed on her car, and fake email and credit card accounts created in her name.

Strickland insists in the lawsuit her estranged husband was not only aware of the cyberattacks but a willing party to a plot to wreak havoc on her life. He is not charged in the criminal case. The criminal charges are directly related to the allegations in the lawsuit.

Allison Burchett is represented by veteran Knoxville defense attorney David Eldridge and well-known Nashville white-collar defense attorney Aubrey Harwell in the criminal case.

Police urge drivers to check for fraudulent transactions after a skimming device was found at a Circle K in Jeffersonville, Indiana on Thursday evening.

Store management at the Circle K at the intersection of State Highway 62 and Utica Sellersburg Road contacted police after finding the device on a fuel pump. Jeffersonville Police Department identified it as a skimming device.

Many people commute to Louisville, Charlestown and Madison and use this fuel station, according to Jeffersonville Police. Police are urging people to share this information with anyone who uses the Highway 62 corridor.

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Police suggest drivers check their financial statements for unusual activity. To avoid potential fraudulent situations at fuel stations, police advise customers to use cash or pay inside. The newest chip card technology is also an effort by financial institutions to prevent fraudulent transactions.

If anyone has information related to this skimming device, or observe any unusual activity near fuel pumps or ATM machines, police ask customers to notify store management, then notify police.

The JPD Detective Division is investigating.

Nine Barren County residents were arrested for drug related charges during ‘April Showers’ operation. On April 29th the Barren River Drug Task Force, Barren County Sheriff’s Department, Cave City Police Department and the Glasgow Police Department performed a drug round up that led to 14 indictment warrants served on nine suspects and one non-drug related warrant.

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The Drug Task Force and assisting agencies are still attempting to find the three remaining suspects.Arrested were 54-year-old Donald Huddleston of Glasgow for two counts of drug trafficking. 52-year-old Vickie Lynn Hatfield of Glasgow was charged with one count of trafficking and was additionally charged at the time of arrest with possession of  methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. 56-year-old Joe Edward Moore was charged with one count of drug trafficking and possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. 46-year-old Regina Marie Boston of Cave City was charged with complicity to trafficking methamphetamine. 48-year-old Bobby Leroy Davidson of Park City was charged with two counts of trafficking methamphetamine. 58-year-old Kerry McQuinn Stockton of Cave City was charged with two counts of trafficking methamphetamine. 53-year-old James Anthony Depp of Glasgow was charged with three counts of trafficking and persistent felony offender 1st degree. 38-year-old David J. Craddock of Smiths Grove was served an indictment warrant at the Barren Co. Jail for manufacturing meth, two counts of controlled substance, child endangerment 4th and unlawful possession of a meth precursor. 35-year-old Michael Shane Walling of Smiths Grove was served an indictment warrant at the Barren Co. Jail for manufacturing meth, two counts of controlled substance, child endangerment, unlawful possession of a meth precursor and persistent felony offender. 32-year-old Brandy Abbott of Glasgow was arrested for two Barren County bench warrants for failure to appear. All suspects are in the Barren County Jail. The bond amounts range from $500 to $25,000. All will appear in court next month.

United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. announced today the guilty plea of a Lithuanian man to a single charge of conspiracy for his role in the theft of interstate shipments from warehouses and distribution facilities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Vismantas Danyla, 35, admitted in court to conspiring with others between October of 2014, and April of 2015, to submit fraudulent documents purporting to be a legitimate shipping company to transportation brokers. In turn, the brokers hired Danyla and others to ship goods including alcohol from Barton Brands’ Warehouse in Bardstown, Kentucky, alcohol from Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and copper wire from Southwest Wire in Carrollton, Georgia. The shipments were never delivered to the purchasers, but, rather, were stolen and driven to a warehouse located in Chicago, Illinois, for illegal distribution.

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As part of the conspiracy, Danyla and others submitted fraudulent Commonwealth of Kentucky liquor licenses and fictitious shipping documents to personnel at Barton Brand’s Warehouse in Bardstown.  On or about October 23, 2014, Danyla, and other coconspirators, stole and transported alcohol from Barton Brands’ Warehouse and transported it to Chicago, for illegal distribution. The shipment was not delivered to its intended buyer Central Liquor Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  It was valued at approximately $130,000.

On or about October 24, 2014, Danyla, and other coconspirators, submitted fictitious shipping and identification documents to personnel at South Wire in Carrollton, Georgia. Danyla other coconspirators stole and transported the copper wire to Chicago for illegal distribution.  The shipment of wire was never delivered to the purchaser Rail Products, located in Columbus, Ohio.   It was valued at approximately $139,911.72.

On April 7, 2015, Danyla and other coconspirators submitted, fictitious shipping documents to personnel at Brown-Foreman/Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Danyla admits to stealing and transporting two loads of alcohol from Jack Daniels Distillery to a warehouse in Chicago. The shipments never reached its intended destination of North Las Vegas, Nevada and Sparks, Nevada.  The values of the shipments were approximately $201,032.55 (North Las Vegas) and $207,705.52 (Sparks).

Further, on April 9, 2015, Danyla admits to conspiring with others to submit fictitious shipping documents to personnel at Brown -Foreman/Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Danyla and other coconspirators stole and transported alcohol from Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg to Chicago.  The shipment never reached its intended destination of Phoenix, Arizona. The value of this shipment was approximately $188,314.88.

Danyla faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a combined maximum fine of $250,000, an order of restitution, and a three year term of supervised release. Danyla is scheduled for sentencing before Senior District Judge Thomas B. Russell, on August 17, 2016, in Louisville.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Judd, and is being investigated by the FBI, Illinois State Police, Kentucky State Police, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

A man from Ohio is dead after a Scott County crash.

Police say that an SUV pulling an RV lost control and flipped in the median on I-75 Friday.

The crash happened just north of the Sadieville Exit. The SUV was headed south.

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They say the RV may have been too big for the SUV to haul.

The man’s wife told officers that the camper started going back and forth before the accident.

The man’s wife and dog survived. The man and his wife were both in seatbelts.