The Bartlett Police Department handled the following incidents for March 20-26, 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.
March 20
Luther Road (suspicious circumstances)
A woman reported March 20 that a drone was flying in her backyard at Luther Road the previous evening, about a foot off her back deck. She last saw it flying into the neighbor’s yard.
She described the drone as black, looking like a spider with red and green lights. She believes it belongs to a registered sex offender who resides in the area. The sighting happened between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Weatherburn Circle (motor vehicle theft)
A may reported walking outside his home around 10 a.m. March 20 and noticing that his green Ford Explorer was missing.
There was a Memphis Police Department report around 7:50 a.m. that morning with a hit-and-run crash at Old Brownsville Road and Brush Everhart Street. The victim’s car was the “run” vehicle. Officers found the vehicle locked and abandoned on Scheibler and Yale roads, and MPD towed it to their impound lot.
The victim said he lets his employees use the vehicle. The responding officer checked the vehicle at the impound lot to look for evidence it had been hot-wired, but everything was normal.
U.S. 70 (vehicle theft)
A man reported on March 20 that someone stole his black 1997 F-150 pickup from his business’s parking lot. He last saw it around 8 a.m. and noticed it was missing around 5 p.m. The truck bed was loaded with mulch at the time of the theft.
Crested Pine Cove (attempted burglary)
One or more intruders damaged a home’s door frame while attempting to break in, the homeowner reported on March 20. He said nothing was taken, and his wife was home all day and didn’t hear anything. The incident happened between 6:30 p.m. and around 7:20 p.m.
The man also said he was walking inside his house on March 17 and saw a gray Nissan drive past three times, and two black males in the vehicle yelled obscenities at him. He believes they are the ones who damaged the door frame, but he can’t confirm that.
Stage Hills (theft from motor vehicle)
Someone broke into a woman’s Chevrolet Equinox while it was parked at River City Gymnastics (7995 Stage Hills). Someone gained entry by shattering the back passenger window, and her wallet was the only item stolen. It contained her Tennessee driver’s license and Bank of America debit card, which was canceled before it could be used. There may be security footage of the crime.
March 22
Surrey Woods (theft from motor vehicle)
A pickup owner found signs of a vehicle break-in on March 22. He parked his 2010 Toyota Tundra in his Surrey Woods driveway around 5 p.m. March 21 and noticed the break-in around 6:50 a.m. the next morning.
One door had been left unlocked. He noticed his Glock G36’s holster was removed from the console and the Glock ($700) was missing.
Other items in the truck were in disarray, and a six-round magazine ($25) and Crown Royal bag filled with rolled-up change ($50) were also missing. The firearm’s information was entered into the National Crime Information Center’s database.
Ivawood Drive (follow-up)
Officers spoke with a crime victim on Ivawood Drive March 22 to inquire about a recovered GPS, but she said it wasn’t hers.
She said someone entered her unlocked vehicle and rummaged through it between 9 p.m. March 18 and 9 a.m. March 19 while it was parked in her driveway. Nothing appeared to be missing, but someone had opened her middle console and rummaged through her things. The police report noted that the area has seen multiple automobile burglaries.
Kenwood Avenue (theft from motor vehicle)
A quick response to a burglary in progress led officers to solving several thefts from vehicles.
A woman reported March 22 that someone entered her unlocked car and stole some of her belongings. Her 2005 Honda Civic was parked in the driveway at Kenwood Avenue. Items taken included a white Samsung tablet ($200) and purple case ($20), $10 in cash from her wallet and an Arkey radio adapter valued at $15. The tablet and wallet were left on the driver’s side seat.
While at that scene, officers got a call about a separate auto theft in progress on Tickle Drive and headed there immediately.
There they saw a white male suspect leaning against a blue Ford F-150 with a male victim standing nearby. The officers took the suspect into custody and searched him for weapons, finding a white Samsung tablet in a purple case in his left pants left and an Arkey radio adapter and $10 in cash in his front pants pockets.
The victim said he saw the suspect looking into the driver’s side window of his truck parked in his driveway. The truck was unlocked, and he said the suspect entered and began rummaging through it. The victim went outside, opened the truck door and demanded that the suspect get out. Then he told his wife to call 911. No items seemed to be missing from the truck, and there was no damage to his vehicle.
At the Tickle crime scene, another resident approached and said someone had entered her unlocked 2014 Ford while it was parked in her driveway overnight and stole her Garmin GPS. It was entered into NCIC at the time.
The suspect waived his Miranda rights and admitted to taking the tablet, radio adapter and $10. He said he also took a GPS from an unlocked vehicle the night before on Tickle Drive. He was found to be in possession of about $245 in stolen property. He was taken to the Bartlett Jail on two counts of theft of property under $1,000 and three counts of burglary of an automobile.
Officers got a search warrant for his home and found several other stolen items, including a Glock G36 ($700), three more GPS units (two Garmin units at $200 each and a TomTom GPS at $200), and a purple Crown Royal bag containing $42 in change. An NCIC check of the recovered items revealed that the Glock G36 pistol and the Garmin Nuvi had been reported as stolen.
March 25
Valley Chase Lane (theft of vehicle parts/ accessories)
A man walked outside just before 5 a.m. March 25 and found that someone had stolen all four times from his 2007 black Chevy Corvette. He had left it parked in his driveway, and he found it sitting on concrete cinder blocks. Someone also took the car’s radio/stereo system.
