Two Cocke County residents named in a federal racketeering indictment last week made initial appearances Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville.

Some 16 other co-defendants named in the indictment had made initial appearances in U.S. District Court last week.

James Alfred Sisk, 45, and Brenda L. Brown, 41, were not arrested by FBI special agents until Monday evening after they were found at a motel in Greeneville, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Both were ordered temporarily detained, pending the holding of detention hearings on Tuesday, at the conclusion of initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Inman.

The Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole has also issued a violation warrant for Sisk, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

"Defendant James Alfred Sisk was a member of the enterprise acting under the direction of Raymond E. Hawk and Thomas Grant Williams and engaged in acts including, but not limited to, operation of a chop shop, interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles and receipt of such vehicles, trafficking in motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts with altered identification numbers, mail fraud, and unlawful distribution of controlled substances," the indictment in the case said.

Brown was indicted on a single count of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle.

"On or about Oct. 2, 2007, in the Eastern District of Tennessee and elsewhere, the defendants, James Alfred Sisk and Brenda L. Brown, aided and abetted by and aiding and abetting each other and others unknown, did unlawfully transport in interstate commerce a stolen motor vehicle, that is, a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado truck, from the State of North Carolina to the State of Tennessee, knowing the same to be stolen ... ," the indictment said.

Sisk, Brown and their co-defendants are alleged to have been part of a criminal organization that was dubbed "the Hawk Organization" by federal prosecutors in a 36-count indictment.

"The defendants herein, and others known and unknown, including H-1 Auto, later known as A Automotive, an automobile recycling and salvage business located in Newport, Tennessee, were members and associates of an enterprise (hereinafter the "Hawk Organization") where members and associates engaged in illegal activity, to include operation of a chop shop, altering identification numbers on motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, trafficking in motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts with altered identification numbers, devising and executing schemes to defraud insurance companies involving claims for purportedly stolen vehicles, and unlawfully distributing controlled substances, and which operated principally in Cocke County ... ," the indictment said.