The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office handled the following incidents in Lakeland during the latter half of September. For earlier September incidents, see the Oct. 20 issue of The Bartlett Express.
Editor’s note: All suspects are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and values are estimated for stolen/damaged items. These are brief summaries of detailed SCSO reports.
Sept. 13
Pleasant Ridge Road (residential burglary)
A woman who left her home at 1 p.m. on Sept. 13 to pick up her children from school returned at 3 p.m. to find that it had been burglarized. She first saw that her Vizio TV was missing from the living room, and she left immediately. Deputies checked the home for intruders and cleared it. Items also missing included a pair of Apple headphones, a Microsoft Xbox and another person’s Sig-Saur pistol.
The headphones’ and pistol’s serial numbers were entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
The victim said she might have left the front door unlocked. The crime scene deputy couldn’t lift any salvageable latent fingerprints at the scene but did take crime scene photos.
This home burglary happened on the 10000 block of Pleasant Ridge Road.
Sept. 14
Davies Plantation East (theft from motor vehicle)
A man who parked behind the Cracker Barrel restaurant (9649 Davies Plantation East) was a theft victim on Sept. 14. He parked behind the business around 1 p.m. because he was pulling a trailer. The items stolen were a suitcase and a couple of small travel bags with medical items, including a diabetic meter ($200) and multiple prescription medications (Enalapril, Pravastatin, Synthroid, Metformin, Nystop, Omeprazole, Vaniqa cream and several Triciba insulin pens). Also stolen was a Verizon computer pad ($400) and new clothing ($500). The total value of the items taken, including the medication, is about $1,500.
The restaurant manager is saving any surveillance video that may be available as there are functional cameras in the area of the incident.
Woodland Ash Cove and Woodland Ash Drive (suspicious complaint)
An officer responded to a complaint the night of Sept. 14 of a white male in a red shirt and camouflage shorts, stumbling through the area, trying to break the window of a red vehicle. He was sitting in an older model silver Honda and looked extremely intoxicated, one complainant said.
The responding officer saw a woman walking away from a Honda Civic. A second man meeting the suspect’s description was sitting in the driver’s seat, and the Civic’s electronics were on. The driver opened the driver’s door when the officer approached.
The officer observed that the driver’s actions were very slow, and he appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic or alcohol. He admitted that he smoked marijuana about an hour or two before the officer arrived. The woman returned to get her purse and other items from the passenger compartment of the Civic. The man said it was her car, but she said it was his.
The ignition was removed from the car’s steering wheel. The officer found that both the car and the license plate were stolen during two separate incidents.
The pair were charged with the car’s theft. The man didn’t pass the standard field sobriety field test, so he was transported for a blood draw. The car was towed. The woman was taken to Jail East, and the man was taken to Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar.
Sept. 17
Canada Road (non-specific other theft)
Two people in a large group of about 15 walked out without paying their ticket at Waffle House (3640 Canada Road), as reported on Sept. 17. An officer responded at 4:24 a.m. Others in the group said they didn’t know who the two were.
The theft of services came to $22.44.
No vehicle information was available because of the large number of cars in the parking lot.
Sept. 19
Champions Drive (theft from motor vehicle)
A woman reported on Sept. 19 that someone had ransacked her unlocked car and stole a black portable DVD player ($50) from the front passenger area. The theft happened on the 2900 block of Champions Drive between 3 p.m. Sept. 18 and 7:30 a.m. the next morning.
She didn’t have any suspect information or serial number for the DVD player immediately available. There was no workable crime scene because she cleaned, wiped down and removed items from inside her vehicle before the deputy arrived.
Triumph Circle (impersonation)
A woman reported a possible law enforcement impersonator the afternoon of Sept. 19.
She said it was around 10 p.m. Sept. 16 when she saw a man in a red SUV that had a flashing white strobe light mounted on its dashboard. She asked him why he had the light, and he told her he was with the SCSO and all deputies have white lights. She said he then changed his story and said he worked at dispatch for the SCSO. He wasn’t on scene at the time of the report, but the officer did obtain his name.
Long Bridge Lane (theft from motor vehicle)
A man reported Sept. 19 that someone stole his prescription drugs from his Kia Soul sometime between 5 p.m. Sept. 16 and 3 a.m. Sept. 17. He said he may not have locked the vehicle. This happened on the 3100 block of Long Bridge Lane.
Sept. 21
U.S. 64 (intimidation)
An employee at Davita Dialysis (9160 U.S. 64) reported threatening words from a patient on Sept. 21. She said he because upset because she wasn’t doing what he thought should be done.
The woman said he told her, “Just give me back my blood, and when I leave I’m coming back with something.” She took this as a threat, and she feared for her safety. It wasn’t the first time he’s made a threat at the business, she said. Other nurses have had unreported threats, the report noted.
The suspect said he didn’t threaten the employee in any way. Deputies noticed that the man seemed to be irrational and emotional.
Canada Road (false pretenses/swindle/confidence game)
On Sept. 21, a woman reported a swindle that began when she met a man on Facebook. He asked her for money so he could leave African and return to the U.S. She said he sent her a $4,970.60 check to her job on Dec. 21, 2015, for her to deposit and send him the cash. She deposited the check into her SunTrust checking account and withdrew the cash. Then two days later she went to Walmart and sent a moneygram for the full amount to the suspect. Her bank later called and advised that the check she deposited was a bad check.
Sept. 22
U.S. 64 and Berryhill (felony weapon law violations)
A traffic stop for a silver Mercedes began with an officer noticing the driver’s side brake light was out and pulling the car over. Then while approaching the driver, the officer smelled what seemed to be raw marijuana.
The officer wrote the driver a courtesy citation for required lights and was walking back to the vehicle to hand over the citation and when he also spotted a Ruger 9mm handgun on the passenger seat. He told the driver not to reach for the gun and to step out of the car. The driver refused to exit, so other officers made the scene and helped to remove the suspect.
A pat-down revealed that the suspect had $1,533 in cash in a front pocket. A vehicle search turned up a digital scale and a green leafy substance in an unlabeled medicine bottle. River City Towing seized the suspect’s vehicle and towed it to the Narcotics lot, and officers seized the cash, handgun and marijuana.
The substance in the bottle tested positive as marijuana and had a total gram weight of 17.5 grams.
Triumph Circle (intimidation/domestic violence)
A mother on the 9300 block of Triumph Circle said her daughter was walking through the apartment complex the previous afternoon when a white male youth harassed her.
The daughter wasn’t interested when the youth, about 16 years old, tried to talk to her. So he then began calling her white trash and saying she needs to be drugged and raped, the mother said.
The mother also said she wanted a record of the incident to report to the apartment complex.
Ace Drive (theft from motor vehicle)
A man didn’t notice that someone had stolen his checkbook from his car’s center console until he got notice of two fraudulent checks on his account on Sept. 22. The victim said the last time he saw his checkbook was around 11 p.m. Sept. 16.
One check was for $1,000 on Sept. 20, and the other was for $600 on Sept. 21. His bank, First Tennessee, told him the suspect’s name written on the checks that were deposited.
Autumnlight Drive (non-specific other theft)
A woman on the 9900 block of Autumnlight Drive realized a garden post was missing from her shrubbery on Sept. 22. Her surveillance camera footage showed a female neighbor removing the post. The neighbor later returned with the post.
The last time she recalled seeing the post was around 3 p.m. Sept. 18.
The victim said she didn’t know why the woman took the post other than for harassment. The responding officer viewed the security footage and observed the suspect removing the garden post.
Wood Green Road (simple assault/domestic violence)
A mother captured video of a father-son conflict that turned violent on Sept. 22. Officers responded to a fight at the home on the 9700 block of Wood Green Road at 6:30 p.m.
The father said his son took his phone, refused to give it back, began taunting him, and then assaulted him when he tried to retrieve his phone. He said his son choked him with one hand, but the father also said he didn’t lose consciousness and he was standing at that point in the attack. The son reportedly also knocked his father onto the staircase and ripped his shirt in half. After the assault, the son broke items in the home but then fled on foot.
Responding officers saw no visible bruises to the father’s neck, but he did have small abrasions on his shoulder and back. An officer took crime scene photos.
Sept. 23
Glen Birnie Lane (theft from motor vehicle)
A man on the 9300 block of Glen Birnie Lane reported on Sept. 23 that his wallet was missing from his vehicle. He noticed the theft around 5 a.m. the previous day and said it must have happened some time since about 4 p.m. Sept. 21.
The wallet contained two First Tennessee debit cards, one Triumph card and a Capital One credit card that have now been deactivated.
He said he spoke with the manager at the Circle K on U.S. 64 earlier on Sept. 23 because one of his cards was used at a gas pump there. The manager said there are no operable security cameras at that location.
Memphis Arlington Road (non-residential burglary)
A couple said someone burglarized their workshop on the rear of property on the 10200 block of Memphis Arlington Road. They said it happened sometime between 5 p.m. Sept. 20 and around 11:15 a.m. Sept. 23.
When they returned, they noticed the window in the workshop door was broken. The only item stolen was a DeWalt ladder ($280-$340). The responding officer noticed that a window of the shop was also broken and had been covered with plywood. The officer couldn’t lift any fingerprints at the scene but did take crime scene photos.
The victims said it was their shop’s second break-in within a week. The responding officer wasn’t able to pull up the report from the first burglary while at the scene.
Sept. 24
Salem Woods Drive (false pretenses/swindle/confidence game)
Someone contacted a Lakeland woman via her Facebook account and cell phone, notifying her that she had won about $300,000, she reported on Sept. 24. The suspect had most of her own personal information, including her old and current address and several personal phone numbers. The messages also said the victim’s aunt in Ohio won the same type of grant, but the aunt said she didn’t know anything about that.
The victim said she thinks the suspect may be using her personal information in unlawful ways without her authorization.
E. Davies Plantation Road (non-specific other theft)
A paintball player reported that someone stole one of his paintball guns and a muzzle while he was on the 9600 block of E. Davies Plantation Road. He put both items in a black case and placed it on a picnic table while he was playing paintball. When he returned, the case was still there but the gun and muzzle were gone. There were no witnesses.
It happened between 1:30 p.m. and about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 24.
Sept. 25
Beowolf Glade Cove (motor vehicle theft/motorcycle)
Someone stole an all-terrain vehicle from the bed of a man’s truck overnight on the 3100 block of Beowolf Glade Cove, the victim reported Sept. 25.
The man said he parked his gray 2011 Chevrolet Silverado in his driveway around 9:30 p.m. with his red Honda Rancher ATV in the truck bed. He heard a noise outside around 7:30 a.m. and saw that his ATV was gone. He also said his neighbor saw a white pickup with a trailer, following an ATV that was headed toward Berryhill Road.
A dispatcher entered the Atv’s information into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
Triumph Circle (theft from motor vehicle)
A woman locked her car, a Lincoln MKZ, at home around 12:25 a.m. Sept. 25. When she went back to her car around 9 a.m., she found it unlocked and ransacked. Items stolen included her Smok Vape ($120), a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses ($150) and a 5th generation Apple iPod ($200). She didn’t have serial numbers for the items or any suspect information.
A crime scene tech took photos and lifted partial prints from the front passenger side’s door frame.
The responding officers didn’t observe any damaged areas where entry into the car might have occurred.
U.S. 64 (misdemeanor shoplifting)
A manager at Sprouts Farmer’s Market (9059 U.S. 64) said someone who claimed to be a Memphis fireman had stolen meat and returned it for a cash refund on Sept. 25, saying the meat was dirty. She provided the responding officer with the man’s Tennessee driver’s license number and name.
On advice from her corporate office, she refunded him the $114.78 rather than receive a customer complaint. Afterward, she reviewed video surveillance and found evidence of the man taking the meat without paying for it. She also said a similar situation happened the previous week with a customer similar in description.
U.S. 64 (business robbery)
Back Yard Burgers (9000 U.S. 64) was the scene of an armed robbery on Sept. 25. An employee said he opened the door to take the trash out about 9:55 p.m., and that’s when two men wearing camouflaged ski masks and flashing black handguns pushed him inside the restaurant.
One of the two suspects made three victims lie down in the front area of the store, pointed his gun at their heads and racked it.
The other suspect forced a fourth employee to the back to open the safe. He held a gun to the back of her head and racked it while she was putting money from the safe into his backpack. Then he took her to the freezer and patted her down, searching for more money. She said she sounded the panic alarm in the freezer after he left her in there.
She said the robbers took the cash drops from two registers, but she didn’t know the total amount taken.
A witness said she saw two men running from the back door to the area behind Dunkin’ Donuts next door.
Sept. 26
Triumph Circle (theft from motor vehicle)
A driver who left his Chevrolet Impala unlocked in front of his apartment on the 9300 block of Triumph Circle was the victim of theft on Sept. 26.
Items stolen included his Oakley sunglasses, firefighter badge, Apple iPhone, Adderall, Sony controller and Nike shoes.
He was unable to provide any serial numbers for the items taken.
