In what law enforcement officials are calling a “drug deal gone bad,” three Corbin men were arrested late Tuesday on robbery, assault and drug dealing charges following a violent altercation behind a local church.
According to Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge, Deputy Ron Bowling stumbled upon the fight around 11:30 p.m. while doing a routine “church check” at Immanuel Baptist Church in Corbin. Bowling went behind the church building and observed 23-year-old Michael David Taylor savagely beating 20-year-old Steven Moore in the head with a pair of brass knuckles while 23-year-old Ricky Miracle sat nearby in a pick-up truck.
“They’d have killed that boy if Ronnie hadn’t have been there,” Hodge said. “Ronnie Bowling saved his life.”
Bowling said he used the “takedown” light and spotlights on his cruiser to blind the men, who attempted to flee once they knew police were in the area. He then secured all three at gunpoint until backup officers from the Sheriff’s Department and the Corbin Police Department could arrive.
“As I got closer to them they realized it was the Sheriff and they scattered,” Bowling said. “The Corbin Police overheard what was going on and came up there right away. Those guys are great. They responded very quickly.”
Authorities say after interviewing all three men, the altercation appeared to be either fueled by drugs or a drug related debt.
Officers found seven Roxicet 30mg pills in Moore’s green Jeep. A similar pill was found on the ground nearby the red truck Taylor and Miracle were driving. Bowling said the red truck was registered to someone out of Pineville but had not been reported stolen as of early Wednesday morning. Taylor and Miracle told police they borrowed the vehicle from a friend, but that they didn’t know the friend’s name. Both vehicles were impounded by police.
Bowling said it appears either Taylor and Miracle contacted Moore, or vice versa, and set up a plan to meet behind the church — a rather remote and secluded area. Once there, Taylor began assaulting Moore and intended to take the pills.
Bowling said Moore was hit numerous times in the skull. He refused to be transported to the hospital at the scene, but later agreed to get medical treatment for the injuries to his head once taken to the Corbin Police Department for questioning.
Hodge said he talked to all three men extensively in the Whitley County Jail.
“I got five or six different versions about why the beat him,” Hodge said. “They all told me they had a drug problem … I think this drug dealer owed one of them money and so they was there to kill him and put him in a nearby dumpster. That’s just the theory we have of what went on.”
Both Taylor and Miracle were charged with first-degree assault, first degree robbery and for carrying a concealed deadly weapon. Taylor was armed with the brass knuckles. Police discovered a retractable switchblade knife and a box cutter style knife in Miracle’s possession.
Taylor was additionally charged with non-payment of fines.
Moore faces a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance first-degree, and public intoxication.
Hodge said that even though Miracle claims to have never left the truck during the altercation, he faces robbery and assault charges because he knew it was going to happen.
“If you go to rob a bank and I’m with you when you do it, I’m just as guilty as you are if I don’t do anything to stop it,” Hodge said.
Police say all three men have admitted to meeting behind the church to carry through with an illegal drug deal. Hodge said Taylor told police he only meant to “rough up” Moore a little, but didn’t plan to hurt him too bad or kill him.
Hodge said the pills confiscated by police are increasingly common and appear to be coming from Florida pain clinics up I-75 — what is often called the “Pill Pipeline.”
“That’s the stuff coming from Florida. It seems like everything we find is that anymore,” Hodge said.
Bowling was assisted at the scene by Corbin Police Officers Rob Hodge, Rob Jones and Coy Wilson. Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputies Dennis Foley, and Brett Reeves also assisted.
