BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

LOVELY — An anonymous tip led officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office to a home in Lovely, where a wanted fugitive’s attempted capture turned into a tense confrontation Feb. 5. While three individuals were arrested for aiding the suspect, the fugitive himself managed to escape, leading officers on a chase toward the Tug River before disappearing.

Sheriff John Kirk and Chief Deputy Chris Kidd responded to a residence at Taylor’s Trailer Court on KY 292 following information that a fugitive with multiple active warrants was inside. As Kirk knocked on the front door, Kidd positioned himself at the back.

A man and woman inside made a break for the back door where Kidd was waiting outside. When the woman hesitated, opening the door, the deputy quickly gained entry.

“I immediately noticed there were needles, syringes and drug paraphernalia strewn all about the floors and everywhere,” Kidd recalled. “There was burnt foil—tin foil.”

The suspect they were seeking, 23-year-old Cameron Mollett of Paintsville, was hiding in a closet with his girlfriend, 28-year-old Paintsville resident Lynn Kristen Kugel.

“He ended up being the male individual that we were looking for,” Kidd confirmed.

Two others were also present: the homeowner, 41-year-old Brandon Parsons, and Erin Aubrey Kugel, 21, of Paintsville. The officers brought all four into the living room for questioning.

“We were talking to the owner of the residence when he walked back into the bedroom with me,” Kidd said. “We were discussing the paraphernalia when he produced some narcotics from his pocket that he said was ‘slow.’ Slow is usually a street term for fentanyl. I asked him, ‘Are you referring to fentanyl?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’”

As Kidd questioned Parsons in the bedroom, Mollett, sitting in the living room, grew restless. Sheriff Kirk immediately picked up on the shift in energy.

“He was getting antsy,” Kirk observed, knowing the young man might try to bolt.

There was another problem: the officers had run out of handcuffs.

“We had four individuals in the house and had run out of handcuffs,” Kidd explained. “I was holding the narcotics that [Parsons] produced in my hand when I brought [Parsons] back to the living room. He was standing in front of me and the other male was sitting on the sofa.”

With limited options, Kidd chose to remove the cuffs from one of the women. “We didn’t think she would be as much of a threat as the male subject sitting there unrestrained.”

Mollett took his chance, leaping from the couch and sprinting out the back door.

Deputy Kidd lunged after him, grabbing hold of Mollett’s shirt just as he reached the threshold. But Mollett tore away, fleeing toward the frigid Tug River.

“I chased him all the way down to the river behind the trailer park there,” Kidd recounted. “He did touch the river with just his feet and made an exclamation like the river was too cold for him to go into. He came back up from the river and ran north along the river bank. I followed from the top of the river bank.”

At the Lovely post office, Mollett scrambled up the bank and vaulted a fence. He cut through the R&J Building Supply loading lot. Surveillance footage showed him climbing a barbed wire fence there, briefly getting tangled before making it over.

After a half-mile, Kidd lost sight of him.

Security footage from a neighborhood residence later picked up Mollett running through a yard, but by then, he was gone.

Officers called in additional support.

“KSP, some volunteer deputies came and helped us search the area,” Kidd said. “We deployed a drone in the area. The 911 coordinator flew the drone for several minutes trying to locate him with no success.”

Mollett is no stranger to the law and has an extensive arrest history. Just last month in Johnson County a grand jury indicted him for allegedly stealing telephone cable in December. With his daring escape last week his list of charges has grown.

“Now he’s facing additional charges here in Martin County,” Kidd confirmed.

While Mollett remained at large, the three others in the home were not as fortunate.

Brandon Parsons, Lynn Kugel and Erin Aubrey Kugel were all arrested and charged with hindering prosecution or apprehension. Parsons faces an additional charge of possession of a controlled substance (fentanyl). According to Sheriff Kirk, Parsons harbored Mollett in his home while knowing he was a wanted fugitive. He then failed to inform officers when Mollett provided them with a false name.

Additional charges against Lynn Kugel include possession of a controlled substance (complicity) and drug paraphernalia – buy/possession (complicity). In the bedroom where she had hidden with Mollett, officers discovered used syringes, half a suspected Suboxone pill on the bed, and an unopened Suboxone strip beside it.

“She helped her boyfriend escape from authorities, hid in the bedroom with him,” Sheriff Kirk said of Lynn Kugel’s hindering charge. “She knew he gave the sheriff a false name and failed to tell the sheriff his real name.”

Erin Kugel’s only charge was hindering prosecution or apprehension.

“She and her boyfriend allowed [Mollett] to live with them knowing he was wanted on warrants,” said Kirk. “Erin knew [Mollett] was giving officers another name to avoid arrest and failed to tell the officers.”

Mollett remains on the run. Authorities urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to come forward.