More charges filed against Gorden in robbery case

Published 10:39 pm Monday, August 28, 2017

More charges have been filed against a Selma business man that ran for the Alabama House of Representatives as an independent candidate earlier this year.

Tremayne “Toby” Gorden, 44, was arrested last week for first-degree robbery, and was arrested again Friday for allegedly bribing a witness and intimidating a witness. Both charges are class C felonies. Gorden was booked into the Dallas County Jail Friday morning on bonds totaling $30,000.

According to Lt. Tory Neely with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Selma Police Department, the charges stem from posts Gorden made on Facebook. Gorden posted a video to his Facebook account on Aug. 23 at 9:23 p.m. showing himself and the victim, as well as a handwritten agreement between the two.

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“He posted stuff on Facebook and social media,” Neely said Monday. “He had picked the victim up and I guess coerced him about the case and had him sign and write up certain documents in reference to the case.”

The agreement reads, “I Tremayne Gorden and William Smith have agreed to exchange possessions as of 8/22/17. He has greed [sic] not to pursue alleged allegations. In return I will not seek damages or charges for lost properties, and William Smith has agreed to work out the amount.”

In the video, Gorden reads the agreement and then adds the amount of $100. He and Smith then sign and initial the agreement.

Neely said last week Gorden was arrested for an Aug. 6 incident, where Gorden allegedly went to 64-year-old Smith’s home on the 800 block of Selma Avenue.

Smith told investigators Gorden brandished a gun when he opened the door and then hit him in the neck area with the gun and stole money from him.

“He knew Mr. Gorden. He said he used to do some work and help Mr. Gorden out around his business,” Neely said last week after Gorden’s initial arrest. “He kind of did handiwork and cleanup for him.”

Later in the video, Gorden holds the agreement up and hands Smith his wallet, which is what Gorden is alleged of taking from him. He then asks a woman that signed the agreement as a witness to take a picture of the two.

“Basically, this stems from him willing to work off what he owes me or pay me back, and then I ended up agreeing to give his wallet back,” Gorden said Monday. “I guess they consider that being bribery I suppose. They considered that being intimidation I suppose.”

Gorden alleged last week that Smith stole from him. When asked if the robbery happened, Gorden replied “no.”

“We look forward to either hopefully getting this thrown out or being vindicated through the judicial system,” Gorden added.

Gorden has run for public office a number of times over the past few years, including his most recent attempt for state representative for District 67, which he lost in a landslide to Prince Chestnut.

Gorden also ran for president of the Selma City Council last year, but he was not successful. He has also run for probate judge of Dallas County.

Gorden has an arraignment scheduled for Sept. 18.