The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office handled the following incidents in Arlington during the second half of October. For earlier October incidents, see last week’s 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.
Oct. 17
Chester Road (motor vehicle theft/motorcycle)
A woman reported on Oct. 17 that someone had stolen her unsecured four-wheeler about a month earlier.
She left her home around 2 p.m. Sept. 19, and the Eton Viper ($2,000) was gone from her back porch when she returned around 4 p.m.
The victim didn’t have any suspects but believes they left toward the field by an adjacent church, which has surveillance cameras. She wasn’t able to provide the vehicle’s identification number or serial number at the time of the report.
U.S. 70 (misdemeanor shoplifting)
A known shoplifter was successful on one of her three visits to Fred’s in October, a store employee reported on Oct. 17. She said the suspect was recognized from a Jan. 16 shoplifting attempt that was captured on video.
A security announcement prompted her to leave without stealing anything on Oct. 15, but she successfully took a Naxa DVD player undetected on Oct. 16. She returned the next day but left again without a theft when store personnel made another security announcement. A review of store surveillance video revealed the Oct. 16 theft.
Oct. 19
Airline Road (simple assault)
Two assistant principals at Arlington High School reported that a prankster put a condom on another student’s desk while the other student was asleep. The other student got angry and struck the prankster on the head during class, as witnessed by several students and a teacher. The school put the angry student in in-house suspension for that day, and he received a juvenile summons and a three-day suspension.
Cranston Drive/Airline Road (individual robbery)
A ninth-grader walking home from Arlington High School reported having to hand over his Nikes to robbers on Oct. 19.
He was walking east on Cranston when two unknown black males pulled up to him in a black Jeep Wrangler. He said the passenger climbed out, lightly punched his left arm and pointed to his orange Nike shoes ($70). The victim said he was afraid, so he took off the shoes and handed them to the suspect.
The two suspects drove west on Cranston and then south onto Airline. Neither spoke during the robbery. The victim said their Wrangler appeared to be a stock older model.
Oct. 20
Doctor Logan Cove (simple assault)
A woman needing help to care for her elderly mother instead got pushed around, she reported on Oct. 20.
She lives with her mother and said she called her brother to come help. When he arrived, they argued and he left, but he returned at their mother’s request. The argument returned too.
That’s when he pushed her in the chest, she said, and he grabbed her arms when she said she was calling 911. He fled in his truck before officers arrived.
The woman said she suffered no injuries.
Oct. 22
Chester Street (theft from motor vehicle)
A woman’s car wasn’t safe for 30 minutes at Hughes-College Hill Park (5980 Chester Street), she discovered on Oct. 22. She parked in the lot around 4:45 p.m. and returned around 5:15 p.m. to find her left rear passenger window shattered. The only item taken was a small black purse that only contained a driver’s license.
The responding officer wasn’t able to lift any latent fingerprints at the scene.
Oct. 23
Airline Road (intimidation)
The manager at Domino’s (5870 Airline Road) said he asked a man to leave but the man instead threatened him. The suspect said he would “f___ him up” if the manager kept getting into his business.
The manager said he felt threatened because the suspect usually just leaves when asked to do so. The suspect left before the officer arrived.
U.S. 70 (intimidation)
A mother reported Oct. 23 that her daughter’s stepmother was delivering foul-mouthed harassment. She said her daughter remained in the car while she went into Kroger (11635 U.S. 70) between 9 p.m. and about 10:15 p.m. The daughter then saw a black four-door sedan drive by several times and eventually recognized her stepmother.
The daughter said the woman began to curse at her, called her names, said her father didn’t love her and warned that she’d better watch her back if she came to their house again. The daughter said her stepmother then laughed and drove off.
The mother said it wasn’t the first time the stepmother has behaved this way, but she wants it to stop.
Oct. 25
Airline Road (misdemeanor shoplifting)
A frustrated beer buyer turned into a beer thief, according to an employee at the Exxon gas station (4935 Airline Road). The customer, a white male, entered around 1:05 a.m. to buy beer, but he left when told the beer coolers had already been locked for the evening.
The employee was mopping the floor when the man returned, grabbed two 12-packs of Bud Lite from a store display near the door and left in a small dark older vehicle.
Airline Road (theft from building)
Someone stole the French horn mouthpiece from a mellophone, a band member reported at Arlington High School on Oct. 25.
The victim said he was practicing with the band around 3 p.m., and they left the instruments on the field while they took a break. When he returned, the mouthpiece was missing.
Oct. 27
U.S. 70 (business burglary)
Burglars who cut through the rear wall at Fred’s (11888 U.S. 70) stole an estimated $20,000 in various medicines. Officers responded to the alarm at 5:08 a.m. Oct. 27 and found the entry spot and several bottles of Oxycodone, morphine and Vyvanse lying nearby.
The crude entry point led through a rear stockroom and into the pharmacy area.
Inside, several shelves were knocked over and medications spilled across the floor. The smell of something burnt hung in the air, and one officer spotted the pharmacy safe, marred with burn marks, a hole cut in the side, pry marks on its doors and damage to the lock. The safe’s shelves were empty.
Store surveillance footage showed the intruders inside around 3 a.m., crawling toward the safe. They appeared to be wearing black hooded jackets, dark pants and gloves.
They used what looked like a cutting torch to open the side of the safe and pry bars and a hammer to defeat the locking mechanisms. They left the same way they entered at 4:28 a.m.
A responding crime scene tech found no fingerprints on the pry bar and hammer left behind.
The exact quantity and brand of stolen products was not known at the time of the report.
Brockwell Street (residential burglary)
A daytime burglary left one homeowner missing weapons, electronics, tools and a trailer on Oct. 27.
The victim said sometime between 7 a.m. and around 3 p.m. someone damaged his home’s rear door and stole a Springfield Armory handgun, a Stevens/J. Stevens Arms Co. shotgun, a Vizio TV and a Dell laptop from the house. Items missing from the garage included a Campbell air compressor, a Linchon welder, an Echo weed trimmer, a DeWALT miter saw, a DeWALT wrench, Hitachi nail fun, a Barnett crossbow and a DeWALT jigsaw. Someone also took the tandem-axle trailer from his backyard.
The victim’s guns were entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database but he didn’t have serial numbers for the other items missing. A crime scene officer wasn’t able to obtain any latent fingerprints at the scene.
U.S. 70 (business robbery)
A cashier at Dollar General (12035 U.S. 70) said someone robbed her at gunpoint on Oct. 27.
She was checking out a customer when the suspect came through the front door, holding a black handgun and demanding money from the cash drawer. The cashier grabbed all the money ($120) and put it into the suspect’s bag. The robber backed out and then ran west.
The business has video of the crime. The suspect wore a black hoodie, a white cloth over the face, white gloves and gray sweatpants. The robbery happened between 4:05 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
U.S. 70 (misdemeanor shoplifting)
Two citizens tackled a would-be shoplifter outside Dollar General (12035 U.S. 70) on Oct. 27.
The incident happened between 6:45 p.m. and 7:25 p.m. Witnesses said the suspect ran outside with merchandise stuck inside his pants and in his pants legs and in a white basket he carried. The 34 items taken were mostly cleaning items (soap for men and women) and general merchandise, totaling $411.30. All was recovered and returned to the store.
The business captured video of the incident.
Oct. 28
U.S. 70 (business burglary)
An alarm call brought officers to the Citgo (11933 U.S. 70) just before 2 a.m. Oct. 28, where they found the front door standing open.
Someone had pried open the wrought iron security door. The security camera facing the front door inside was knocked from its mounting, and the alarm panel was removed from the wall. Two areas in the rear of the business also were possible access points, where someone had peeled back the metal siding.
The intruder(s) took about $3,145 from multiple locations in the store as well as 21 cartons of Newport cigarettes ($1,239).
A crime scene officer lifted fingerprints at the scene, and the store owner said he can provide surveillance video later.
Memphis Arlington Road (counterfeiting/forgery)
A woman reported on Oct. 28 that someone had been fraudulently writing checks on her savings account at an unknown Walmart location. They included checks for $161.07 on Oct. 3, and $80 and $79.26, both on Oct. 20.
Airline Road (simple assault)
A mother reported that a male student assaulted her daughter in the hallway at Arlington High School on Oct. 28.
The victim said they were playing in the hall, with him playing like he was swinging his fist at her, and she grabbed his sunglasses from his front shirt pocket. She said he got angry when she wouldn’t return them, so he placed his left forearm on the front of her neck and was choking her. She pushed him back, she said, and then gave him back his sunglasses and told him not to touch her again.
She texted her mother about the incident, and the mother came to school and got the assistant principal and officers involved. The male student told essentially the same story but said he didn’t mean harm and that he wanted to apologize.
Both the victim and suspect said they know each other and consider each other friends. Neither student received a juvenile summons. The male student received a three-day school suspension.
Oct. 31
White Briar Drive (other larceny/access device)
On Halloween night, an Arlington man reported that someone used his Southern Security MasterCard for fraudulent charges totaling about $440.
One charge was $240 for General Insurance on Oct. 28, and the other was for to Ticketmaster for $200 on Oct. 29. The victim has since canceled the card and advised Southern Security of the fraudulent charges.
