 Two men find themselves in jail in connection to two Pike County armed robberies, and a jail inmate escapes after allegedly assaulting a jailer, and it all happened this week. Welcome everyone to This Week. I'm Shawn Allen. For the next half hour, we'll catch you up on news you may have missed and give you updates on the week that was in your hometown. One of the many results of the drug epidemic is the rise in crime rates, and those rates continued to rise Tuesday as a man walked into a belfry pharmacy, pointed a gun at the workers, and demanded drugs. EKB's Shelby Porter has the story. Police in Belfry are investigating an early morning robbery. Around 9.30 Tuesday morning, a man wearing a mask allegedly walked into total pharmacy care of Belfry, brandished a firearm, and demanded prescription medication. It was an email, so they thought it would be about six foot tall or in that gray or dark colored hoodie. The business opened just 30 minutes earlier, and employees were completely shaken by the incident. We've had some sparkles come in at night, but never during the day. According to police, after stealing $30 worth of Xanax pills, the male subject left in a black car, possibly a Ford sedan, and headed in the direction of Route 319. Total pharmacy care closed after the incident in order for employees to relax and spend time with their families. They're a little shaken, so it becomes a little good. It's a scary situation for everyone. Total pharmacy care will be open tomorrow during regular business hours. The pharmacy is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual. Police urge anyone who spots the man not to initiate contact. If you have any information regarding the incident or the alleged robber, contact Kentucky State Police post 9 at the number listed on your screen. Callers may remain anonymous. In Belfrey, Shelby Porter, EKB News. This week's theme of Pike County Armed Robberies continued as an investigation began Thursday in the second armed robbery to be committed in Pike County in less than a week. This time at a gas station convenience store. Troopers told EKB News they received a 911 call reporting a robbery at the Justice Bill Double Quick just after midnight. The subject came in with what appeared to be a shotgun, demanded money, and cigarettes. A person had on a black leather jacket, mask, and gloves. He did have on sunglasses also. The subject left with a determined amount of money, some cigarettes, and a purple hatchback is all we know at this time. Kentucky State Police also added considering the possibility that Thursday's robbery is linked to the one at the Belfrey Pharmacy earlier in the week. Police also released pictures of a car used in the Belfrey robbery, which is a black Ford Focus with Arizona tags. They also gave us the name and photograph of a man they say is wanted in questioning for both incidents. Shortly after the story aired, that man wanted for questioning. Timothy Mark Damon was arrested. Damon was wanted for questioning in the robbery at the Justice Bill Double Quick as well as the Total Pharmacy Care Robbery in Belfrey Tuesday. We will continue to follow this story and bring you further updates. A man has been indicted in connection to another Pike County robbery from last week. 23-year-old Austin Douglas Sloan of Elkhorn City is accused of using a knife to rob two people at the Elwood Heights apartments in Elkhorn City last Saturday. An investigation led officers to an apartment where they allegedly overheard Sloan through a partially open door admitting to the robbery and detailing the crime. It's very dangerous because some of these people in the stores are trained to how to respond appropriately to a threatening situation, but private individuals are not so trained and sometimes people end up getting seriously hurt or killed in these type situations. So we're glad that the police department, the state police and the Elkhorn police working together were able to identify this robber and able to bring this in for prosecution. Austin Sloan remains lodged in the Pike County Detention Center. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the first-degree robbery charge. State officials in Frankfurt are taking issue with the official story being offered by Pike County officials for why property tax bills skyrocketed for residents this year. During a meeting last week, county officials said their hands were tied by a change in how oil, gas and un-mined coal taxes are assessed, leading Frankfurt to mandate drastically higher rates for other taxpayers. But officials with the finance and administration cabinet and the Department of Revenue tell EKB News that simply isn't the case. Local communities, there's different districts that set local tax rates such as the fiscal court or the library board or the cooperative extension service. So in this instance, if a body does not set a tax rate, then the compensating rate takes effect and that rate is set by statute. So it is not arbitrarily determined by the Department of Revenue or anybody else in Frankfurt, but it does take effect per statute. There's been some counties that have actually voted on a lesser rate and they've done that maybe to help out their citizens in lowering their tax rate. And the fiscal court did that through budget reductions or tightening their belts so that they didn't need to have that compensating rate take effect. Officials with the two agencies further tell EKB News that local officials were made aware that the higher compensation rate would go into effect back in the summer. Authorities in Johnson County were on the hunt for an escaped inmate Thursday after he allegedly assaulted a MacGuffin County jailer, Brian Montgomery, as he was transporting several detainees to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville. 36-year-old Jeremy Ray Arnett was arrested in MacGuffin County in charge with fourth-degree assault. As Arnett was being transported, he allegedly claimed to be sick. And when jailer Montgomery pulled over, that's when Arnett made his move. When he pulled over, Jeremy opened the door and began trying to jump out of his cruiser. Montgomery advised that he got a hold of Jeremy. Jeremy was pushing and hitting him, said he shoved him over a guardrail and took off up the hill. Montgomery advised he chased Jeremy up the hill for a small period but was unable to continue on because there were more inmates in his cruiser at the time. He then contacted us and we met him there on 460 where all this was occurring next to mixed auto sales. Myself and three other deputies searched the woods and till it become dark was unable to locate Jeremy anywhere in the woods. Shortly after that story aired, Arnett was found and taken into custody. He was charged with third-degree assault of a correctional employee and third-degree escape in addition to his original charge of fourth-degree assault. Coming up, family members of a missing toddler pleading for the safe return of their family. It's coming up next on This Week. Provide comprehensive treatment for circulatory disorders specializing in limb salvage, aortic disease, carotid artery disease, dialysis, and varicose veins. Find out if you are a candidate for vascular screenings. Call 606-218-2202. Hikeville Medical Center, Mayo Clinic Care Network member. Looking for an amazing gift for that special lady or man in your life or maybe you just like to treat yourself to a classic piece of jewelry or the latest Pandora ring or bracelet? Let Hefner's Jewelers help you find exactly what you're looking for from classic timepieces to the perfect engagement ring. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality. In the Weddington Plaza of Pikeville. Get a bird's eye view of the skies above Pikeville. Rain or shine day or night. Watch for the EKD weather cam every day at 6 and 10. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. Sometimes you need more advanced care and it's good to know you can get it right here at home. It can be scary to hear that your doctor or local hospital needs to transfer you somewhere else. So if that happens, ask about Pikeville Medical Center first with a team of board certified doctors and membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Pikeville Medical Center offers a higher level of care right here at home. Pikeville Medical Center. The specialists are here. Family members of a missing North Carolina toddler are doing what they can to aid in the search from Kentucky. An Amber Alert was issued this week for three-year-old Mariah Woods after she vanished from her Onslo County home in North Carolina reportedly sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. Since that time, over 200 officials with 14 different agencies have aided in the search for her. Mariah's family members in Floyd County are devastated by her disappearance and are pleading with whoever may have taken her to just bring her home safe. We have been in some contact with the grandmother. The grandmother just is devastated. She's in tears every time we spoke to her. We actually just received a text from her that says, Keep praying. Nothing is impossible with God. I'm getting so weak. I can't pray anymore. Just please help us. Just please don't hurt her and bring her back home. She's a wonderful little girl. We go out there every summer on vacation. We actually just seen her in July and she's just a wonderful little girl. Just please bring her home. We miss her and we just want her back home with us. Back home to know that she's safe with her mommy, her grandparents and her brothers. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mariah Woods is urged to call the FBI's Charlotte Field Office or the Onslo County Sheriff's Office at the numbers listed on your screen. You may also contact your local FBI office or the nearest American MNC or consulate. It's not every day that a famous Christmas villain wanders into town and ends up in the back of a police cruiser, but that is exactly what happened in Coal Run last Saturday. EKB News reporter Shannon Deskins explains. This past weekend was the official kickoff for the Christmas shopping season and thousands of shoppers throughout the region took advantage of weekend specials. But as the shopping season gets underway, so does the season for thefts. On Saturday, the Coal Run Police Department arrested one of the country's most famous thieves, the Grinch himself. What we're trying to do is to get awareness out about how to protect yourself best from being a victim of theft during the holidays. Mayor Andrew Scott says Coal Run police officers will be more visible in shopping areas between now and Christmas, but consumers can help by not tempting would-be thieves. When you go back to put things in your car, you want to try to cover it up. I mean, don't leave it to where people can walk by and see it there because this is a time of year where thefts spike throughout the United States. Women are encouraged to wear their purses around their neck and shoulder, and men should carry their wallets in their front pockets. And before you walk into the parking lot, go ahead and have your car keys out in your hand so you can load your items quickly. Many retail locations will have lost prevention officers and plain clothes throughout the stores to help deter shoplifters because, ultimately, less theft equals lower prices. It affects everyone. When businesses have to suffer the losses and eat the losses that occurred during the holidays or any other time of year, for that matter, then they have to pass that on to the consumer. Police departments throughout the region will also be increasing patrols and encouraging everyone to not get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping that they forget to pay attention to their surroundings. In Coal Run Village, I'm Shannon Deskins, EKB News. A talented singer-songwriter came home to the mountains to a sold-out crowd last weekend. We'll take you to the Mack in Prestonburg, and we return. For the clearest, most up-to-date look at your weather, check out the EKB Weather Cam. Brought to you by American Heating & Cooling. Get a bird's-eye view of the skies above Pikeville. Rain or shine day or night, watch for the EKB Weather Cam every day at 6 and 10. Brought to you by American Heating & Cooling. Hefner's Jewelers help you find exactly what you're looking for from classic timepieces to the perfect engagement ring. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality. In the Weddington Plaza, Pikeville. Floyd County deputies were on a mission to bring someone into the courthouse Friday, but their target wasn't a wanted criminal. EKB News reporter Shelby Porter fills us in. A 95-year-old woman was the talk of the town this morning as she was picked up by Floyd County sheriff's deputies in a police cruiser and taken to the sheriff's department. One may think, what on earth could this sweet woman do to get taken in by police? Today, Gertrude Tyson wasn't brought in for crime, it was to celebrate her birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, sister Tyson. Happy birthday to you. Check on a senior today was implemented by the Floyd County Sheriff's Office roughly eight months ago. The COST program allows a volunteer with the sheriff's office to call to check on elderly residents who don't have family in the area. If the senior doesn't answer two consecutive phone calls, the sheriff's department will send someone to check on them. I'm a senior citizen too, and I've been retired for quite a while. It gets me out of the house. These senior citizens that I call, they'll say, your call is the only call that we get during the day and we wait for you to call. Sister Tyson is the oldest senior participating in the COST program in Floyd County. We just got to thinking, if you don't have anybody calling and checking on them or if they don't have anybody going by and checking on them, they ain't going to be really celebrating a birthday or a special occasion. During today's surprise party, cake, refreshments and presents were shared with sister Tyson. In Prestonsburg, Shelby Porter, EKB News. There is a wealth of talented singer-songwriters embedded in these mountains. You'll see names like Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yochum and Chris Stapleton. Another talented product of this region made his way home to the mountains last weekend to a sold-out crowd at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg. Ronnie Hilton and myself was there for the concert. Lawrence County native Tyler Childress has been making waves in the country music industry with his new LP purgatory. Tyler says growing up in these mountains played a big part of who he is today as an artist. It's a foundation for just me as a person and the way that I've grown to see the world around me and it's influenced the characters that I write about. It's influenced the sound, what I want to hear out of my music, out of other people's music, what I think is quality and what's not. Rolling Stone Magazine describes Tyler's sound as a raw look at the darker regions of modern-day Appalachia where bluegrass is in the soul, but cocaine is in the blood. However, Tyler describes it a little differently. The sound I'm trying to go for is a combination of a lot of things, but like Marty Stewart says we're doing a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock. I grew up listening to a lot of Southern gospel and a lot of bluegrass. Growing up in this region of country music was a big influence early on. I listened to a lot of Ricky Skaggs and Mary Cordell and pretty partial to D-White. So all that just welded together with some drive-by-truckers and I don't really know how to explain it other than that. Those who knew Tyler early on knew right away he was something special and was destined to do big things. I teach at Lawrence County High School and I teach freshman and I had Tyler several years ago in my freshman government class. A little bright-eyed red-haired kid and I play music and a lot of people know that so me and Tyler connected pretty early because he played music. It didn't take long to figure out that Tyler wasn't like most of the other children. He was already writing songs and was interested in some pretty esoteric stuff. We always knew that he would grow. It's like, okay, we've got to watch this. I can't wait to see him in a few years because we know he's headed for bigger and better things. Wherever he is, he's going to take that next step. If you missed Tyler's show at the Mountain Arts Center you can catch him this week on December 2nd and 3rd at the V-Club in Huntington, West Virginia. Reporting from Prestonsburg, I'm Shawn Allen for EKB News. Coming up, Edward St. Pay will be in with a look at your forecast and Andrew Joyce will be in with the fact that we can sports. And we return on this week. With a team of board-certified doctors and membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network, Pikeville Medical Center offers a higher level of care right here at home. Pikeville Medical Center, the specialists are here. We have over 150 choices, but the only one that matters is yours. Golden Corral, your choice rules. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality. In the Weddington Plaza, Pikeville. This holiday season, enjoy all that Prestonsburg has to offer. The whole family will love the Christmas lights in Archer Park. The annual Winter Carnival. And these festive shows at the Mac. Christmas with Cory Cottle. The Kentucky Opry Christmas Show. And the Johnson Central High School Christmas Concert. Get into the Christmas spirit this season in Prestonsburg. Well, we've had an interesting weather picture, especially in daytime highs in recent days. Finally, some rainfall coming into the picture. We're going to see more of that in the coming week. Not without a little bit of sunshine to precede that. Plenty of sunshine on Sunday, high near 60 degrees, even a high near 70 degrees on Monday, under partly cloudy skies expected. But then we'll start to see a change up. Usually when you see unseasonably warm periods like this, it's usually followed by something that's not quite as good. In this case, it's going to be rainfall. An 80% chance of showers and thunderstorms expected on Tuesday, a high near 60 degrees. Now the overnight lows still kind of in the chilly factor, except for Monday night. But we'll see that start to get colder and colder as the week goes along. Now the rain starts to taper off on Wednesday, a 20% chance of showers. We should see that by midday gone completely. High only in the mid 40s though. Overnight lows expected. Oh, wow, the coldest it's been in quite a while. And that's going to continue for three straight nights, the mid 20s for the most part. It could even drop a degree or two lower in the higher elevations. And those highs only getting up in the low 40s after Wednesday. Well, what do you think that means? It means that we're getting into what is the pre-winter weather. And following the days of next week and after the weekend, we should see some interesting patterns develop. But we're going to leave it for that for right now. But we'll see it get colder after Wednesday, both day and night. Not with that a little bit of sunshine and rainfall first. Andrew Joyce and this week in sports, we saw state semifinal football. In Raceland, Class A state semifinal action, and it was a dandy. Pikeville facing the host Rams in front of a capacity crowd. This one was a tale of two halves. Pikeville dominated the first half. The Panthers got the scoring started with the screen pass to Christian Billiter. He gets a block, breaks a tackle. He's gone 60 yards for the touchdown. Then early in the second half, after a long drive downfield, the Rams inside the five, that's Judd Adkins. He'll take the handoff up the middle, and that is a Raceland touchdown. The Panthers answer with a long drive of their own capped up by Zach Roberts with this three-yard touchdown to take the lead. After starting with good field position, the Rams call the time out to set up this play deep in Pikeville territory. Adkins again, straight up the middle again, and he'll score again to tie the game. Finally, game tied at 14, three ticks left on the clock. The Rams call on kicker Luke Lamaster to seal the deal. Here's the snap, the hold, the kick is up. It's good, Rams celebrate, and Raceland defeats Pikeville 17-14. Raceland goes on to the Class A state championship, their first trip to the finals in school history. And this week, Johnson Central punched their ticket for the third straight year. Johnson Central's Golden Eagles return to the Kentucky Class 4A state football championship after beating Wayne County 43-24 last week in the semifinals. Central head Coach Jim Matney shared his thoughts on the win and what it means to have a chance to defend their title. Well, Franklin Simpson is almost a mirror reflection. They run a very similar offense that we do. Same formations, same plays. They have a lot of good athletes. They do a few things a little bit different, but you know, it's a very similar team with a lot of very good athletes. They take their football very serious down in Franklin Simpson. I think this is maybe their seventh time they've been in the state title game. I think always one of the keys that you have to do in big games is turnovers and penalties. You know, you can't make silly mistakes if you're going to win a big game. And I think that was one of the things that helped us last week as we played turnover free for the most part and just made a couple of penalties. You can't make silly mistakes. You have to play that you keep your mindset strong at all times. State semifinal football and of course Johnson Central taking on Franklin Simpson that happened earlier this afternoon. Best of luck to the Golden Eagles and congratulations to all of our local teams for deep runs in the playoffs. That's sports this week. Sometimes you need more advanced care and it's good to know you can get it right here at home. It can be scary to hear that your doctor or local hospital needs to transfer you somewhere else. So if that happens, ask about Pikeville Medical Center first with a team of board certified doctors and membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Pikeville Medical Center offers a higher level of care right here at home. Pikeville Medical Center, the specialists are here. For the clearest most up-to-date look at your weather check out the EKB Weather Cam. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. Get a bird's eye view of the skies above Pikeville. Rain or shine day or night. Watch for the EKB Weather Cam every day at 6 and 10. Brought to you by American Heating and Cooling. Looking for an amazing gift for that special lady or man in your life? Or maybe you'd just like to treat yourself to a classic piece of jewelry or the latest Pandora ring or bracelet. Let Hefner's Jewelers help you find exactly what you're looking for from classic timepieces to the perfect engagement ring. Hefner's Jewelers is here for you. Hefner's Jewelers, three generations of exceptional quality. In the Weddington Plaza of Pikeville. Eastern Kentucky, beautiful, green, peaceful, friendly. But there's a darker side to these mountains. When crime is committed, sometimes cases go unsolved. Occasionally the perpetrators even get away with murder. On our latest news segment, The Scene of the Crime, I'll be working with local law enforcement to help find justice for victims and their families. The Scene of the Crime, Fridays at 6 and 10. Welcome out to you by Billy Johnson, your injury attorney. I hope you enjoyed our look back at some of the stories that made headlines this week. Be sure to tune in next weekend right here on EKB-TV at 6.30. For This Week, I'm Shawn Allen. Have a great weekend.