The Bartlett Police Department handled the following incidents for Oct. 3-8. 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.
Oct. 3
Bending River Road (vandalism)
The owner of a 2001 Jaguar reported that someone pelted it with eggs sometime between 6:20 a,.m. Oct. 2 and 8:20 a.m. Oct. 3 while it was parked in front of his home. The responding officer noticed that someone had also removed the vehicle’s license plate and thrown it into the nearby sewer drain. After retrieving the tag, the officer also noticed that its 2017 decal sticker had been stolen.
West Earhart Drive (theft from a motor vehicle)
The owner of a 2014 Ford F150 reported Oct. 3 that someone stole a weapon from his unsecured truck. He left a window rolled down, and between 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 and 7 a.m. Oct. 2 someone reached in, unlocked the door, went through the vehicle and took a KelTec .32-caliber weapon from the middle console.
Ash Hill Lane (theft from yard)
Someone took a boy’s Schwinn Gladiator scooter from his family’s front yard, the mom reported on Oct. 3. They last saw the scooter around 5 p.m. Sept. 29 in the yard.
Oct. 4
Montpelier Drive (suspicious vehicle)
An officer responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle around 5:30 a.m. found a black BMS parked in the middle of Montpelier Drive, facing a driveway. There was a purse in the back seat.
The witness said he saw a young black male walking eastbound on the road with a gas can between midnight and 12:30 a.m. The suspect said he had just gotten the vehicle but was having car trouble.
Dispatch contacted the car’s owner, who didn’t know her vehicle had been moved to the road. She said her carport and back door were open and the purse in the car was hers, but she keeps the purse by her bed.
She said she knew the suspect, and he comes over often to visit. But she said she didn’t give anyone permission to take her car or come in her house.
U.S. 70 (theft from motor vehicle)
Two women’s vehicles weren’t safe from intrusion at Buckhead Creek Recreation Complex (8300 U.S. 70, Arlington) on Oct. 4. The first arrived around 12:30 p.m. in her 2003 Ford Expedition, and the second arrived around 2 p.m. in her 2013 Infiniti J35. Both were at the playground area and returned to their cars around 3 p.m.
The first victim found the front passenger side window was shattered. Items stolen from the front floorboard included her black Guess purse ($40) containing her driver’s license ($21), her and her daughter’s Social Security cards ($21), her and her daughter’s birth certificates ($14), medical insurance cards ($1), shot records ($1), $5 in cash; a black and gray Eddie Bauer diaper bag ($80); 4T-sized school uniforms ($60); a Victoria’s Secret gift card ($3); a Honey Baked Ham gift card ($50); two Harley Davidson poker chips ($5); three Rattle Snake Saloon sleeve patches ($15); and First Tennessee ATM card ($5).
The second victim had left her vehicle unlocked, so it wasn’t damaged. Items stolen from her front floorboard included her black brand 31 purse ($40), Infiniti vehicle key ($250), keys to her residence ($10), a rose gold Apple iPhone 5C ($500), $11 in cash, driver’s license ($21), medical insurance cards ($5), Bible ($15), and food stamp card ($511).
N. Bluff Point (auto burglary)
Even parking at a church isn’t safe, one woman discovered. A woman parked her Chrysler Aspen at Christ Church (5955 Yale Road) while picking her children up from daycare around 4:45 p.m. Oct. 4, leaving her purse on the front passenger-side seat.
She said a young thin black male about six feet tall got out of a light sedan and spoke with her briefly before she walked away.
Just when she got out of line of sight of her SUV, she realized she had left her purse in plain sight and worried that the man might take it. She returned but her purse was already gone. She saw his car leaving the lot, headed westbound on Yale Road. She said it looked as if there was another occupant, but she couldn’t provide a description.
The purse ($15) contained two Bancorpsouth debit cards and one Bank of America debit card. The responding officer advised her to check her account activity, and she found that someone had already racked up two fraudulent charges: $41.52 at Marathon gas station (4101 Yale Road) around 5 p.m. and $400 at Yale/Harris New and Used Tires (3491 Rail Road) around 5:05 p.m.
The officer followed up at the tire shop, where a witness said a short stocky black female bought the tires for a silver Toyota Camry. The female suspect reportedly used the victim’s BancorpSouth card and forged the victim’s signature.
Oct. 7
Sycamore View Road (theft from yard)
A homeowner reported Oct. 7 that someone stole her silver 20-foot ladder ($200) from where it was placed beside her carport, in her yard. She said the equipment theft must have happened between 5 p.m. Sept. 23 and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 7.
Oct. 8
Mt. Palomar Cove (individual robbery)
A woman who fought back against robbers still lost her purse and ended up with a sore head. She reported Oct. 8 that she returned from Costco at 5:30 p.m. and stopped at her mailbox when a dark gray sedan pulled up. Two of the car’s three black male suspects existed and approached her vehicle.
The one on her side of the car had a black handgun and pointed it at her head, demanding her purse. She instead grabbed the gun, and he punched her in the side of her head. The other suspect opened the passenger door and grabbed her purse. The two men fled in their car southbound.
The thieves made off with a purse containing her Samsung Galaxy S7 phone ($800), driver’s license, First Tennessee credit and debit cards, and $200 in cash.
