The Cedar Bluff Police Department has been credited with the recent federal conviction of a man for the armed robbery of a post office in Kelso, Tenn.

A federal jury in Chattanooga on Sept. 14 convicted Gerald Wayne Phillips, with postal inspector Diane Bracken giving credit to Cedar Bluff's Police Department for the conviction.

Two white males who could not be identified robbed the Kelso post office last Oct. 6 at gunpoint. Stolen were cash, stamps, money orders and a money order imprinter.

Locating the men and getting evidence was difficult, according to Bracken. Cedar Bluff Police Chief Steve Walden proved the break that was needed as authorities awaited for the money orders to be cashed. Patricia Moulds Bennett of Gadsden, since deceased, went to the Cedar Bluff Police Department and surrendered along with a small radio containing money orders. A friend of Phillips, Bennett said she saw Phillips removing money orders from the radio.



Walden alerted Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Danny Smith and the Leesburg Police, who assisted in searching a camper and a truck in Leesburg in their jurisdiction, where they found evidence that helped the postal service identify who the men, according to Bracken.

Walden`s testimony in federal court, Bracken said, proved a major factor in convicting Phillips, who was arrested in Kentucky, after some of the stolen money orders were cashed in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Also assisting in the investigation were U. S. Postal Inspection Service

field offices in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, the Sheriff`s Department of Lincoln County in Tennessee and the Floyd County and Rome Police Departments in Georgia Police. Nine suspects including Phillips were indicted. Among them werePhillips` ex-brother-in-law, John Patrick Morrow of Boaz, and Phillips` half-sister, Sandy Marie Ramsey of Boaz, the getaway driver. Charges against the three included the armed assault of a postal employee, using a firearm during the commission of the armed assault, theft of a postal money order imprinting machine, conspiracy to

possess, imprint and negotiate the postal money orders taken during the robbery. Bennett, Keith F. Batts of Nashville, Tenn., Anthony `Andy` Smith and Debra Collins of Rome and William David Waters of Boaz were charged with conspiracy to possess, imprint and negotiate the postal money orders taken during the robbery. Phillips also was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Phillips' sentencing is set for next Jan. 9 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.



Morrow was captured the day before Bennett approached Walden. He was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison. Ramsey received six years, eight months and Batts, Smith, Collins and Waters will be sentenced either in November or December after pleading guilty. The charges against Bennett

were dismissed after her death.

Phillips will appear in Federal Court in Chattanooga on Nov. 21 on federal charges of escaping from the Hamilton County Jail on Aug. 19, along with five others. Three days after his escape, Phillips was captured in Guntersville and returned to Chattanooga. Charged with aiding and abetting Phillips are Brenda G. Griffith of Gadsden, Kathy Sampson Hunt of Guntersville, Sheltie Hortenberry of Gadsden, Juilan Tate of Chattanooga and Marcus G. King of Cleveland, Tenn