The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Alleged motel robber faces additonal counts




A man who was arrested last week on charges of robbing a Whitesburg motel at knifepoint now faces an additional charge of assaulting an inmate in the Letcher County Jail.

Mark Joseph Morton, 25, of 95 Bicycle Lane, Whitesburg, was arrested Jan. 12 and charged with first-degree robbery, theft by unlawful taking and intimidating a participant in the legal process in connection with the Dec. 16 robbery at the Super 8 Motel.

Assistant Whitesburg Police Chief Tyrone Fields said Morton, while wearing a full-face toboggan, held a butcher’s knife to the throat of a Super 8 desk clerk and demanded money. Fields said Morton told the desk clerk if he come back and kill him if he called police.

Fields said Morton lingered in the lobby of the Whitesburg motel for about 20 minutes while he made small talk with the desk clerk before asking to use the restroom. Fields said when Morton came out of the restroom, he showed the knife and demanded to be given all of the money from the cash register. An estimated $553.73 was taken.

Morton is being held in the Letcher County jail. Bond is set at $50,000 cash.

Last week, Morton and two other men — Ricky Collins, 39, and Jeffery R. Adams, 21, both of Thornton — were charged with fourth-degree assault in connection with an assault on inmate Chris Miles.

According to arrest documents, Miles, also of Thornton, received “minor visible injury” to his face, the left side of his chest and his rib cage.



Leave a Reply