The Bartlett Police Department handled the following incidents for March 13-19, 2017. This listing includes the most notable incidents for the reporting period and does not necessarily reflect all police activity.
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 BPD reports.
March 14
Unspecified location (fraud/false pretenses/swindle)
A scammer called a Bartlett women at home around 1 p.m. March 14, claiming to be Shelby County Deputy James Thompson. The caller told her she’d missed her first day of federal jury duty at 201 Poplar Ave., Memphis, and that the judge had issued a warrant for her arrest for failure to appear.
She was told that paying $1,900 using a Green Dot Moneypak card would get the charges dropped and no further actions would occur. So she went to the Kroger on Kirby Whitten and bought four such cards at a cost of $5.95 each. She loaded $500 onto three cards and $400 on the fourth one. Then she called the suspect back and gave him the card’s scratch numbers. He then told her that all charges were dropped.
She began to suspect she was scammed and checked with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, learning that there is no James Thompson employed there.
U.S. 70 (suspicious circumstances)
A clerk at Dollar General (7889 U.S. 70) reported that someone drove a green Toyota Camry into the lot twice and each time backed into a space. She recognized it from a theft the previous night.
The driver was a black male, and she identified him as the same thief that entered on March 13 and stole several items. When she went to confront him, he drove away quickly.
A short time later, a representative of the Dollar General at 6600 Stage Road reported the same suspect as stealing items from their store.
March 15
Bartlett Boulevard (theft of bicycle)
A woman reported that someone stole her daughter’s bike while the girl was at W.J. Freeman Park on March 15. She left it unlocked at the gazebo at the front of the park and left with friends. Someone took the bike between 8 a.m. and around 12:15 p.m.
The bike is a Giant brand BMX-style bicycle with a black frame, green writing, a white seat and a cell phone carrier on the handlebars ($460).
Stage Road (theft from motor vehicle)
A man reported on March 15 that someone broke into his SUV while it was in the parking lot of Sam’s Club (8480 Stage Road). He parked on the east side and said the theft happened between 8 p.m. and around 9:10 p.m., finding the rear passenger broken out ($200).
Items taken included a gray backpack ($60) containing his macro economics textbook ($100) and philosophy textbook ($100).
The responding officer found a fingerprint on the rear passenger outside door handle. The officer also saw that the lot had a surveillance camera facing the vehicle but Sam’s Club was closed by the time of the report.
March 17
Hulon Street (theft)
A woman reported a known suspect for stealing her daughter’s bike. The suspect asked to borrow the bike on March 14, promising to bring it back by 5 p.m. March 17 but hadn’t returned it by 8 p.m., the time of the report.
March 18
Surrey Wood Drive (theft from a motor vehicle)
Someone broke into a Memphis Police Officer’s truck while it was parked overnight in front of his home, he reported on the morning of March 18. Items taken included his work PDA, a Samsung Galaxy S5 ($200). The item’s information was entered into the National Crime Information Center’s database.
U.S. 64 (theft)
A woman reported March 18 that someone stole her daughter’s cell phone and money while she was trying to pump gas at the Circle K-BP (8110 U.S. 64).
Around 8:50 p.m., the daughter was walking into the gas station when a black male wearing all black clothes ran up and snatched her iPhone 6 Plus and $20 in cash from her hand. Then he sprinted westbound on U.S. 64.
March 19
U.S. 64 (auto burglary)
Someone broke into a man’s Hyundai while it was parked at the Malco Theater (7930 U.S. 64) on March 19. The break-in happened between 2:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
He found the passenger window broken when he returned, and his Pioneer stereo system ($300) was missing from the dashboard.
Video surveillance footage showed a four-door silver sedan with tinted windows enter the east side of the lot at 3:12 p.m. A black male got out several times, pulling on several door handles of vehicles in the east lot. He drove around and parked in several spots before stopping next to the victim’s vehicle and burglarizing it. Then he left the area headed east, driving behind Hobby Lobby.
An officer will contact that store for access to their video footage.
