The Bartlett Police Department handled the following incidents for Feb. 7-26, 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.
Feb. 14
Whitehall Drive (burglary)
A woman reported Feb. 14 that someone had stolen multiple guns from her husband’s safe. She and her family were out of town to visit her husband, who is away in the military.
Feb. 15
Billy Maher Road (possession of stolen property)
An officer responding to a car crash found the suspect in the driver’s seat with a tow truck trying to pull the vehicle from the location. The suspect said his father gave him the vehicle for Christmas 2016. But a computer check of the vehicle’s identification number (VIN) showed it was stolen from Prestige Auto Sales in Senatobia, Miss., as of Jan. 7.
He was taken to Bartlett City Jail and charged, and the vehicle was towed. The vehicle was valued at $10,000.
Calla Drive (theft)
A woman reported seeing someone fleeing with a package from her front doorstep on Feb. 15. She heard two knocks, and she looked out the front window in time to see the suspect. He was a short pre-teen black male wearing dark clothing running away with her package. It contained a $150 kid’s karaoke machine.
Feb. 16
Lark Hill Cove (animal cruelty)
BPD officers helped Bartlett Animal Control in a response to reported animal cruelty on Feb. 16. There were two dogs in the back yard in a state of visible physical neglect.
The white female dog, a shepherd mix, and the black female dog, a Lab mix, were severely malnourished with their ribs and other bones protruding. There was no food or food bowls in the yard and no adequate water provisions. The animal control officers noted that there was little to no feces in the back yard where the defendant said the dogs lived, indicating that the dogs either rarely eat or haven’t eaten consistently in the recent past.
The homeowner said the dogs belong to his three juvenile children, who said they were feeding them, so he didn’t concern himself with checking on the animals. He voluntarily surrendered them to Bartlett Animal Control at the scene. He was arrested on the scene for cruelty to animals.
Officers took the dogs to a local animal hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
Feb. 18
Luther Road (motor vehicle theft)
A man reported Feb. 18 that someone took his beige 1995 Ford Ranger from his driveway overnight. The owner said he had lost his keys over a week ago and was using a spare that he left in the ignition.
A dispatcher notified the responding officer that the pickup had been in an accident around 6:36 a.m. that morning, and the driver left the scene.
Franie Lane (burglary)
A father returning home from a cruise on Feb. 18 heard from his son that someone had ransacked his bedroom the afternoon of Feb. 14.
The children had already cleaned up the room before the father returned. The only items known to be missing were his 9mm black Hi-Point Luger with yellow and white paint on the grip ($500) missing from his nightstand, along with two fully loaded eight-round magazines. The victim couldn’t immediately provide a serial number for the weapon. There were no signs of forcible entry into the house.
The son told the responding officer that he found a male in his parents’ master bedroom on Feb. 14, and his sister told him the man was staying there for the night. The sister also said they were about to leave to head to the Memphis Tillman Precinct to file a carjacking report. The son noticed the bedroom had been ransacked later that afternoon.
Feb. 22
Silver Hill Road (vandalism)
Someone threw a small rock through a front bedroom window of a home under renovation on Silver Hill Road. The owner reported it on Feb. 22 and said it must have happened sometime after 5:30 p.m. the previous day.
Country Hill Cove (phone scam)
A woman reported getting an automated call on Feb. 22, with her caller ID showing that it supposedly originated with the City of Bartlett. The automated call said in a woman’s voice that they had been trying to contact her about a credit card payment. She called the city’s Water Administration Depart-ment back to verify and was told that the city doesn’t make any automated phone calls for any reason.
Feb. 23
Snowshoe Drive (burglary)
A man reported Feb. 23 that someone had burglarized a vacant house owned by his employer, Progress Realty. Items taken included the stove, fridge and a ladder, taken between 4:30 p.m. Feb. 22 and 8 a.m. Feb. 23. The suspect(s) entered through a rear window.
Stage Post Drive (theft from a vehicle)
Someone punched out the driver’s door lock ($100) on a man’s 2011 GMC truck, the victim reported on Feb. 23. The intruder stole a Samsonite Tectonic backpack ($60) that contained a set of CLEER headphones ($300), a Western Digital 1TB hard drive ($100), a USA passport and TSA documents.
Bartlett Corporate Drive (theft from a motor vehicle)
Someone took the license plate off a man’s car while it was parked in the back lot at Bartlett Corporate Cove East. He reported the incident around 5 p.m. Feb. 23.
Feb. 24
Steeplechase Drive (disturbance)
A mother reported Feb. 24 that her son had argued with three other juveniles that had arrived at her home in a black Jeep.
The responding officer determined that the argument was over a juvenile female who wasn’t on the scene, and the incident escalated to an exchange of threats. The officer had them exit the vehicle and found on the front seat in plain sight were two packages of cigarillos (short narrow cigars), a glass drug paraphernalia pipe with residue and a package of Newport cigarettes. One juvenile received a criminal trespass warning along with a juvenile summons for being a minor in possession of tobacco products and possession of drug paraphernalia; he was released to the custody of his grandmother. The other two juveniles were issued criminal trespass warnings as well.
Feb. 25
Sycamore Hill (burglary complaint)
A father reported Feb. 25 that someone took his juvenile daughter’s blue-and-pink Mongoose mountain bike ($120) from inside his garage. He noticed the theft around 8:45 p.m.
Feb. 14
LaMesa Lane (residential alarm)
Officers responding to a home’s backdoor alarm on Feb. 26 found the back door to be closed but unlocked with the small window just below the lock to be missing. The victim returned from a walk and checked the home, where nothing appeared to be missing or damaged other than the door. The incident happened around 1:30 p.m.
U.S. 64 (theft from a vehicle)
An opportunistic thief targeted a woman looking for new cars at the Wolfchase Dodge dealership before the business opened on Feb. 26. She left her unlocked white Nissan by the front gate while she was in the front lot, and then she noticed an unknown male walk by her car. She remembered that her purse was in the car behind the driver’s seat. It was missing when she returned.
U.S. 64/Stage Road (motor vehicle theft complaint)
Someone stole a woman’s vehicle while she was at work and it was parked in the east side lot at Longhorn Steakhouse (8324 U.S. 64). it happened between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Feb. 26.
