There are 10 article(s) tagged Michael Dunavant:

• July 2022

  • Six apply for upcoming TN attorney general vacancy

    Tennessee is the only state in which the attorney general is appointed by the Supreme Court. The position runs in eight-year terms. The new term begins Sept. 1.

    By The Associated Press July 31, 2022

• May 2021

  • Former U.S. Attorney has a new job with state Comptroller’s Office

    Michael Dunavant, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, has a new job with the state Comptroller’s Office.

    By Yolanda Jones May 18, 2021

• December 2020

  • Police look for ways to fight back as carjacking cases rise

    Carjackings are “basically a crime of opportunity,” said Lt. Jimmy Lewis of MPD’s Violent Crimes Unit. And this year, he said, police are seeing guns used more often during the crimes.

    By Yolanda Jones December 06, 2020

• November 2019

  • Owens drug case is latest in 25-year arc of federal charges

    An October federal indictment of Blake Owens and four others for allegedly dealing heroin and fentanyl is a major drug case. It's also part of a 25-year saga that includes real estate, strip clubs, kidnapping, racketeering, wiretaps and a plea by Owens in 2006 for federal prison officials to release him somewhere other than Memphis.

    By Bill Dries, Yolanda Jones November 18, 2019

  • Former city analyst indicted on federal charges in lawn mowing scam

    Leon Blackmon, a former analyst with Housing and Community Development, allegedly steered $1.6 million in contracts to mow vacant lots to family and friends over a seven-year period. Half of the lots were being mowed by the city or next-door neighbors.

    By Bill Dries November 04, 2019

• October 2019

  • 34 sentenced in ‘Operation Gangster’s Paradise’ federal investigation

    The U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant announced that 34 men and women were sentenced to prison after a two-year investigation into their drug trafficking organization found they were distributing heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the Memphis area. 

    By Yolanda Jones October 18, 2019

  • ‘Father of identity theft’ convicted of stealing from the dead

    A 58-year-old Memphis man who nicknamed himself the “Father of Identity Theft” has been convicted after a week-long federal trial of aggravated identity theft in a scheme dating back five years.

    By Yolanda Jones October 01, 2019

• April 2019

  • Five Memphis doctors, nurses indicted in federal opioid sting

    Five Memphis doctors and nurses were charged in connection with a federal major drug bust of dozens of medical professionals accused of distributing illegal prescription opioids and other narcotics. 

    By Yolanda Jones April 19, 2019

• March 2019

  • City sues big pharma companies over opioid addiction

    The city of Memphis is suing 21 opioid manufacturers and distributors in a federal lawsuit claiming “opioid addiction is ravaging Memphis.”

    By Bill Dries March 13, 2019

• January 2019

  • Federal government shutdown impacts Tennessee immigration court in Memphis

    The partial government shutdown is impacting Tennessee's only immigration court – located in Memphis – and some immigrants may have to wait a year or two for their cases to be rescheduled.

    By Yolanda Jones January 03, 2019