A 45-year-old Morganton man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to common law robbery and his admission of habitual felon status in Burke County Superior Court on Monday. Stokley Jeroid Osborne was sentenced to serve 10 to 13 years and his status was enhanced due to his habitual felon status. According to the investigation, in July 2015, Osborne went to the passenger side of a car that had just made an ATM stop, reached inside and took $400 from the victim. Officers matched the description of the robber after coming contacting the victim. When confronted, Osborne gave a full verbal and written confession to the robbery. He had three previous convictions for felony larceny in Cleveland County.

Deputy Chief of Police named in Hickory. On Thursday, Captain Thurman Whisnant, a 21-year veteran of the Hickory Police Department was promoted to Deputy Chief of Police. Whisnant has served in the capacity of Division Commander since 2006, spending time as the head of each: Criminal Investigations, Support Services and the Patrol Division. Whisnant was also one of the lead investigators during the Zahra Baker Case in 2010.