KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Knox County residents with connections to the Henry Granju case were arrested Tuesday on multiple drug charges.
The four arrests stem from several related investigations over the past year by the Knoxville Police Department, Knox County Sheriff's Office and Knox County District Attorney General's Office.
A Knox County Grand Jury returned indictments against the four on Tuesday.
The suspects and their charges are:
Yolanda Meza Harper, 37
One count of sale and delivery of Adderall - Class C felony
One count of sale and delivery of methadone in a school zone - Class B felony
Counts of sale and delivery of methadone including in a child care zone and a park zone - Class C felonies
Randall Ray Houser, 40
One count of sale and delivery of Adderall - Class C felony
Laurie Pelot Gooch, 50
Three counts of sale and delivery of oxycodone - Class C felony
Kasie Westmoreland Robinson, 28
One count of sale and delivery of oxycodone
Harper and Houser are a couple who live together in a home on Tarklin Valley Road.
Officers found Granju, 18, the son of Knoxville blogger Katie Allison Granju, unresponsive in April at the home of Harper and Houser. The couple called the sheriff's office and said they picked him up after he was beaten.
Granju, who was allegedly assaulted and suffered a drug overdose, developed a brain injury, bled from his ears and died in May.
Harper, Houser and Gooch were all interviewed in the Granju death investigation. Harper is being held on a $125,000 bond. Houser and Robinson have $25,000 bonds. Gooch has a $75,000 bond.
Katie Allison Granju has been vocal in the past about her family's unhappiness with the way the sheriff's office handled the case. But she issued a statement Wednesday night saying:
"...the time has come for me to change my previous, primary advocacy focus on specific concerns with the way my son's case HAD been handled to a more forward-looking attitude. I want to do all I can to support yesterday's successes by local law enforcement and the Office of the Knox County DA, and I want to be certain that I am assisting these professionals in the most productive way as they seek to take those successes to the next level."
Class C felonies carry a minimum sentence of three to six years.
Class B felonies carry a minimum sentence of eight to 12 years.
School zone, child care zone and park zone cases require day-for-day service of the entire sentence.
Yolanda Meza Harper (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)
Randall Ray Houser (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)
Laurie Pelot Gooch (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)
Kasie Westmoreland Robinson (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)
