The Daily News
The Onslow County Sheriff s Office has done their best to keep away the threat of coronavirus from inside the Onslow County jail. However, on Thursday, deputies received the news that several detention officers have tested positive.
Information released by the county that afternoon originally said seven officers had tested positive, but that number increased to 12 and also includes one inmate as of Friday at 1 p.m., according to Col. Chris Thomas. Over the last week we have a total of 12 officers who have tested positive and the one inmate, who is asymptomatic, has been removed into an isolated cell, Thomas added. If there are other inmates that come back positive they will also be isolated.
Due to the rising cases of COVID-19, the Onslow County District Court will remain closed until the end of January.
Chief District Court judge Sarah C. Seaton made the announced effective on January 12 for Duplin, Sampson and Jones County District Courts as well.
Seaton s administrative order coincides with that of Governor Roy Cooper and Former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley. Cooper extended North Carolina s stay at home order on Jan. 6 while Beasley released an emergency directive on Dec. 14 where all non-essential in person court proceedings were postponed.
All district courts in those counties are scheduled to remain closed through Jan. 29.
All four counties have shown increased positive coronavirus cases and increased fatalities during the month of January. With the backlog of court cases from full closure of the courthouses during the pandemic, the heavy dockets require a large number of people inside the court rooms working closely together.
The Onslow County Sheriff s Office have made an arrest from a bar shooting two days after Christmas.
On Dec. 27, deputies responded to the GoodFellas Bar on Highway 258 in Jacksonville after receiving a 9-1-1 call that a person had been shot.
During the initial investigation, deputies found that the person who was shot was trying to diffuse an argument when a gun shot was fired. The victim was hit in the abdomen and taken to a local hospital by a friend, according to a release from the OCSO.
Eyewitness statements were taken and a description of the alleged shooter was identified as Seqwill Entrell Hauser, 26, of York Street in Jacksonville.
Deputies with the Onslow County Sheriff s Office recovered the body of a woman in the rock quarry near Catherine s Lake Road Thursday night and are investigating the incidents leading up to her death.
Cyrstal Helen Ortiz, 23, of Catherine Lake Road was found dead in one of the abandoned rock quarries near the Martin Marietta Onslow Quarry just off of Union Chapel Road late Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday around 10 p.m. deputies received a 9-1-1 call about an altercation with a female individual at Country Salon on Catherine Lake Road. When deputies arrived they were told Ortiz was causing a disturbance and had gotten into an altercation with the owner of the bar. Ortiz and a friend she was with left prior to deputies arriving at the bar.
The Holly Ridge Police Department was under hot water between May and June.
On May 7, officers were accused of raiding Snap Fitness Holly Ridge during Gov. Roy Cooper s executive order which closed certain commercial activity in response to the pandemic. The gym s owner Nick Koumalatsos posted information as well as photos and videos on his business and personal social media pages explaining his concerns about the officer s actions.
Captain Ewan Richards was the department s point of contact on the day Koumalatsos referred to as the raid. Chief Keith Whaley also spoke with Koumalatsos, initially taking back the original citation for having his gym open during the state s shutdown, after the gym was proved to not have received the proper warnings before hand. Snap Fitness was later shut down again for reopening several days later.