I have never heard any serious talk about the Girl Scouts being involved, so that means they could be? In other words not being a suspect, and there being no evidence that you are, means you did it!
By Ron Scalf
Erwin Bureau
rscalf@johnsoncitypress.com
ERWIN — Two Israeli nationals being held since Saturday in the Unicoi County Jail after taking Sheriff Kent Harris on a 2 1/2-mile high speed chase in the Flag Pond community, following Saturday’s Ramp Festival, face a deportation hearing, Harris said Tuesday.
Bonds for the men were set late Tuesday afternoon in Unicoi County Sessions Court on state charges. Judge David Shultz set a secured bond of $2,500 for Almaliach Naor, 22, and a $5,000 secured bond for Shnuel Daran, 19, both of Tel Aviv, Israel. Harris said even if the two made the cash bonds, “INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) has issued two orders to detain the men, or ‘holds’ on them, until they can be taken to a INS facility to be questioned. Obviously, the state charges we are holding them on may become moot if they are deported back to Israel,” he said.
Naor and Daran “are in the United States illegally,” Harris said. “They are here on tourist visas and they are not following the guidelines because they’ve been working.” The men reportedly were moving furniture from Florida to Boston and took a wrong turn in Unicoi County.
INS agents from Knoxville appeared at Unicoi County Jail Tuesday afternoon to interview Harris and speak to the Israelis’ court-appointed lawyers.
Meanwhile, Aviz Ezra, Israeli deputy consulate general in Atlanta, contacted the Johnson City Press to say he believed the incident “was a big misunderstanding.”
“I understand one of the men did have a forged ID card, but there was no ‘Learn to Fly’ brochure. It was merely a card (advertising flying lessons) with a phone number on it, not a brochure with details,” he said. “I understand they are in the moving business from Florida, took a wrong turn and just got lost.
“The relationship between Israel and the United States has always been in the best interest of everyone,” Ezra added, saying he just returned from a law enforcement meeting where 15 Georgia law enforcement officers are taking a trip to Israel.
Following a test by an FBI crime lab, Harris said he received a report Tuesday on the substance inside a vial allegedly thrown out of the truck and later found by officers. The vial contained, “gloconic acid and Astromid 18,” Harris said. “We don’t know what the substances are but they’re not explosive. Our investigation in the matter continues.”
Harris said Naor and Daran were dropped from a federal investigation after FBI agents cleared them from being on any wanted list. Harris said Unicoi County deputies on Monday night searched a storage building that the men had rented in Mars Hill, N.C. He said the building was clean “except for some old, junk furniture.”
The men face charges of speeding, reckless driving, littering, producing false identification and evading arrest.
Harris said the investigation will be expanded further to include the people the men were working for.