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Century Man Found Incompetent To Stand Trial In Child Neglect Case Now Facing Felony Weapons Charges

A Century man found incompetent to stand trial on three counts of felony child neglect in connection with a child sexual abuse case is now facing charges for after allegedly shooting over the head of a man found on his property last week.

Norman Tracy Tedder, 57, was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count  of discharging a firearm in a public or residential area. He remained in the Escambia County Jail Thursday morning with bond set at $18,500.

Tedder returned to his home on Old Flomaton Road in Century and found a pickup truck parked next to his vehicle. He allegedly armed himself with a shotgun and fired warning shots into the air before later firing a warning shot over the head of man.

About and hour and a half later as it was getting dark, he observed an unknown person with a flashlight walking through the edge of the woods and saying “if he’s here, I’ve got something for him in my pocket”, according to arrest report.

Still armed with a shotgun, Tedder ordered the individual to stop where he was.

The man advised that his truck was broke down, and he said he was related to Tedder’s wife Tabitha Tedder, who is now in prison in the child abuse case,. Tedder held the man at gunpoint until he removed a rifle from the truck, the report states.

Tedder told deputies he helped the man fix his truck, and he drove away.

Tedder reported that he found items missing from his vehicle, including the shotgun, a tool box and socket set worth $300, and another socket set valued at $197.

“Tedder was not in present , imminent, and impending peril of death or serious bodily injury, or reasonably believed himself or others to be in such danger,” the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report states. “Tedder had a reasonable alternative to possessing the shotgun which should have been to call 911 from the security of his residence…The trespass of (the man) was not more egregious than the possession of a Firearm by a convicted felon and aggravated assault.”

Tedder previously pleaded guilty and was convicted of dealing in stolen property in 1998. He was sentenced to one year and six months probation.

According to the ECSO, the man who was on Tedder’s property will be charged with armed burglary of a vehicle, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft firearm, and petit theft.

Child Sexual Abuse Case

Tedder’s wife was sentenced in January 2023  to eight years in prison after several children that had been sexually abused were found living in squalor in two campers.

Tabitha Ann Tedder was sentenced to four years concurrently on three counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, and four additional years on a felony charge of failure to report child abuse.

Norman Tedder was found incompetent to stand trial and sent to Lakeview for “competency training”. He was due back in court in November.

In October 2022, Michael Tracy Tedder was sentenced to 30 years in state prison for child sexual battery and designated as a lifetime sexual offender after he pleaded to multiple counts of sexual battery by a person in familian authority and lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a minor.

Michael Tracy Tedder’s wife Elizabeth Mae Dennis was previously convicted of two counts of child neglect and sentenced to 19.5 months in state prison, with credit for 116 days served, to be followed by 18 months probation.

Some readers may find the following details disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

On October 20, 2021, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a local elementary school after a victim disclosed sexual abuse to a school counselor. The victim disclosed at school that she had been raped by Tedder. She stated that it hurt, and about the time she healed, he would do it again. The abuse occurred between January 1, 2020, and October 20, 2021.

During the course of the investigation, it was determined that Michael Tracy Tedder had sexually abused additional victims between January 1, 2020, and October 20, 2021. He was the only family member charged with a sexual offense.

“This defendant preyed on children that should have been able to trust him,” Carrie Gilmer, prosecuting attorney, said.

When the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office went to Michael Tedder’s home to investigate the sexual battery allegations, deputies found him and three others living in squalor with six children in two campers.

One camper was “extremely dirty”, with “raw sewage coming from the back side of the camper and flowing underneath the camper causing an unbearable foul odor”, and “hundreds of roaches”, according to an arrest report. The roaches were in the food cabinet, running over the food, on the stove, on the sink and on the counter.

A deputy further described the camper as having roaches inside the shower and toilet area, pots with old food in them on the kitchen counter, a sink filled with dirty dishes and a refrigerator he called “extremely nasty”. There was one full size bed, a let-down bed with roaches crawling on it, and a baby crib in the camper. Two cats and two dogs were inside, and there were power cords running through the camper and by the kitchen sink, the report states.

“The camper had a foul odor inside and out that was unbearable,” the deputy wrote in his report.

The other camper, described as being “extremely small,” was also roach infested, dirty and piled full of clothes and other items making it impossible to enter, the report states.

According to the ECSO, there was no electrical service on the property; the campers were powered by numerous electrical cords strung together to a nearby home. Some of the cords had bare wires in places and junctions exposed to the weather.

“The parents smelled as if they had not bathed in several days,” a deputy wrote in his report.

The Department of Children and Families removed the children.