One of three defendants charged in the tossing of a fan motor from an overpass into a bus loaded with Lee University students made his way to a McMinn County court Friday.

Cases against one other man is scheduled for adjudication later and a plea from another has been accepted, according to officials.

Jeremy Michael Mulkey, who is now 20, was sentenced to four years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections for his reported involvement in the Cleveland Municipal Airport construction site vandalism as well as the Lee incident which occurred in November of 2010.

Mulkey was taken immediately into custody after the sentencing hearing in the McMinn County Criminal Court.

Casey Shane Thomas, now 20, entered a plea agreement earlier and was also remanded to the TDOC. Thomas was sentenced to four years as well.

Thomas also plead to an unrelated case and received an additional two years to serve consecutively under TDOC, according to court records.

The third defendant faces a July hearing, according to officials.

Barry William Burbank, 21, was also alleged to have played a role in the vandalisms and Lee incident.

Since the cases were in the 10th Judicial District, the Bradley County and McMinn County cases were brought together, according to Steve Morgan, prosecutor for the 10th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office.

Judge Amy Reedy presided over the hearing.

On Nov. 17, 2010, officials found heavy equipment damage at the Cleveland airport construction site on Dry Valley Road.

At the time, McMinn County and Athens Police officials were investigating several reported vandalisms and incidents where objects were being thrown off Interstate 75 overpasses.

On Nov. 28, 2010, a bus transporting Lee University’s Voices of Lee was returning from a church singing in Chambersburg, Pa., when a large squirrel-cage fan motor was thrown off an overpass and crashed through the bus’ windshield. The bus driver suffered minor injuries.

Bradley County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and McMinn County SO’s CID continued to work together developing information which led to the arrest of Mulkey, Thomas and Burbank.

The three men were arrested Dec. 29, 2010, after an extensive investigation involving Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, McMinn County Sheriff’s Office, Athens Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

MCSO Chief Deputy Matt Blair and Sheriff Joe Guy gave the case involving the Lee bus and 17 students a top priority is solving.

Thomas, of Athens, was originally charged by McMinn County Sheriff’s Office investigators with three counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of felony vandalism over $500 and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit reckless homicide.

Burbank of Sweetwater was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of felony vandalism over $500.

Mulkey of Athens was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of felony vandalism over $500, 18 counts of attempted reckless homicide and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit reckless homicide.

The three were all charged in Bradley County for vandalism over $60,000 for allegedly damaging heavy equipment owned by Wright Brothers Construction, which was being used at the airport.

Morgan said Mulkey was not eligible for probation, but could be eligible for community corrections.

According to Morgan, in total, Mulkey plead to seven felonies.

“The DA’s office will be researching case law on eligibility of community corrections for Mulkey regarding the reckless endangerment plea,” Morgan said.