Four arrested at old hospital

By Abby Morris
star staff
amorris@starhq.com
  Four individuals were arrested early Saturday morning after an Elizabethton Police Department officer saw them running into the lower level entrance of the old Carter County Memorial Hospital.
  Heather M. Peters, 19, 884 Dry Creek Rd.; Justin Shane Shell, 18, 669 Dry Creek Rd., Johnson City, and Lauren Ingram Vanover, 22, 105 Fairfax Rd., Johnson City, were arrested and charged with public intoxication and criminal trespassing. Nathan Whitfield Cochran, 23, 2170 Upper Stone Mountain Rd., Unicoi, was arrested and charged with public intoxication.
  At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, EPD Ptl. Jennifer Mayberry was on routine patrol in the area of the old hospital when she saw the four running into the building and then notified other officers, according to reports. Several other EPD officers arrived on scene and searched for the trespassers.
  "Officers located a male and female, (Lauren Vanover and Justin Shell) hiding in a room," Mayberry said in a report on the incident. "Both subjects had a strong odor of an intoxicant about their person, glassy eyes and were unsteady on their feet."
  Vanover and Shell were taken into custody and charged with public intoxication and criminal trespassing.
  "Another check of the room was conducted to ensure no property had been left and a second female (Heather Peters) was located behind the door," Mayberry said.
  Peters was then placed into custody and also charged with criminal trespassing and public intoxication.
  "Myself and Capt. (Clyde) Croy located the vehicle in which the three subjects arrived parked in the (Elizabethton) High School parking lot," Mayberry said. "Nathan Cochran was passed out in the back seat of the vehicle."
  Cochran was arrested and charged with public intoxication. All four were transported to the Carter County Jail.