Nov. 09--
Ernest Grubbs was having trouble with both his car and his debit card before he was arrested early Wednesday on Interstate 64 in Kentucky, according to a store owner.
Dwight Collins, owner of the Exit 181 Trav Mart in Carter County, said the former Bedford County sheriff's deputy was buying gas at his store and had to come in to pay because of an issue with his debit card.
Collins said Grubbs bought $40 worth of gas and nothing else. He said the transaction was time-stamped at 8:57 a.m.
"To be honest, he seemed like a nice guy," Collins said. "He went out and pumped his fuel, then his Jeep wouldn't start."
As other customers were helping Grubbs start his vehicle, Collins got a phone call from Virginia State Police investigators. He said they wanted more information about which direction Grubbs was traveling.
Kentucky state police said investigators had become aware that Grubbs used his debit card at the gas station and wanted more information.
Collins said he told them Grubbs got on the westbound I-64 exit.
"I saw somebody else in the Jeep. You could see it looked like a young boy or young girl. Somebody with short hair," Collins recalled.
"We could've stopped him. We've got some healthy truck drivers in here," he added.
According to Kentucky State Police Trooper Elliott Gollihue, Grubbs was pulled over about 9:40 a.m. near mile marker 169 in Carter County.
Grubbs is now being held at the Carter County Detention Center, Gollihue said. He believed the former deputy would go before a judge sometime Thursday.
Ernest Grubbs, the fired Bedford County sheriff's deputy who jumped bail on morals charges, was caught today in Kentucky with 16-year-old Audrey McCombs, state police said.
Kentucky state troopers spotted Grubbs' Jeep leaving a gas station in the town of Rush, a mountain town just over the border with West Virginia and a few miles from Interstate 64. They followed the car on I-64 in an unmarked police car and stopped it at 9:40 a.m. with a marked cruiser.
Audrey was in the SUV with Grubbs and safe, Virginia State Police Capt. George Austin said. Grubbs didn't resist.
"She's doing fine," Austin said.
She likely will be reunited with her family in Bedford today, Austin said.
Grubbs, a 47-year-old Bedford County sheriff's deputy fired from his job as Liberty's school resource officer when he was arrested last month, was slapped with an additional charge of abduction and will be jailed in Kentucky until authorities determine whether he'll waive his extradition rights and return to Virginia.
Audrey, a Liberty High School sophomore, wasn't charged with any offenses.
Grubbs, charged with a dozen counts of taking indecent liberties in a custodial relationship, had been free on $5,000 bail until Monday. That's when a Bedford County judge revoked the bond, saying Grubbs had left the jurisdiction and had contact with the victim in his case.
Troopers added Audrey's name to Virginia's Missing Children Clearinghouse and notified law enforcement agencies. They did not issue an Amber Alert, designed to rapidly notify the public of a child facing grave danger.
Audrey's family told police Monday morning they last saw her at 9 p.m. Sunday at home.
Grubbs was arrested Oct. 19 after telling a state police investigator his relationship with a 16-year-old Liberty student had "gone too far," according to a search warrant filed by police. Magistrate Robert Goad released him on bond that night.
The girl's parents turned to the police after her father received text messages from his daughter that police said were intended for Grubbs. Police seized computer equipment, photos, a bed comforter, handwritten notes and Grubbs' county-issued phone from his home, according to warrants.
The girl told investigators she and Grubbs had sex numerous times.
Copyright 2011 - The Roanoke Times, Va.
