The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) handled the following incidents in Lakeland during the last half of March. (For the city’s earlier March incidents, see the April 28 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.
March 13
Three Iron Drive (theft of vehicle parts/accessories)
The owner of a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup discovered body damage and a missing tire when he left it parked over a weekend at his apartment complex.
He backed it into a parking space near a large dumpster the evening of March 5. When he returned the morning of March 7, there were several deep scratches to the passenger side front door and the extended cab door. The scratches weren’t in a particular design and weren’t consistent in size.
The owner said he has no idea how the damage occurred, but he checked the rest of the truck, which does have old damage (such as dents, dings and scratches). He found that someone had cut the lock that secured his spare tire/wheel to the underside of the truck and had stolen the tire/wheel ($400).
He waited until March 14 to report the damage and theft because he was unsure if he should bother because he had no suspect information. His main concern is the theft of the spare tire and wheel. The tire was a Michelin P265/75/R16, and the wheel was a stock Dodge truck wheel.
Surveillance footage wasn’t immediately available from the apartment complex, and there was no suspect information.
March 14
Canada Road (other theft/non-specific)
Someone stole a $1,000 part of the irrigation system on a Lakeland median in front of 2998 Canada Road. A Public Works spokesman for the city said the backflow preventer was turned off in December 2015, and the theft wasn’t discovered until the morning of March 12. Someone had pried open the cover and removed the part from its housing.
The theft was reported on March 14. There was no suspect information available at the time of the report.
Breckenridge Cove (misdemeanor vandalism)
Someone tossed two rocks from a rental home’s flowerbed through the front bedroom window, the owner reported on March 14. The damage occurred sometime over the previous two days. It appeared that the culprit didn’t enter the residence, which had a “For Rent” sign in the front yard.
March 15
U.S. 64 (threatening phone call)
A former employee at Dunkin Donuts (8984 U.S. 64) reportedly told her ex-bosses on March 15 she didn’t want her last paycheck mailed: She wanted to pick it up at the store so she could deliver a slap to management, and she called the store owner (who is out of the country) and threatened to slap him in the face too.
March 19
Memphis Arlington Road (theft of other trailer)
Someone got away with stealing a utility trailer from a home’s driveway on March 19, despite the fact that the owner was home all day.
The theft happened between noon and 5 p.m., and the owner said he didn’t see or hear anything.
The item stolen was a single-axle black trailer with a red rack at the front and a white 4-inch PVC pipe near the rear. The trailer was covered in mud and had various pieces of scrap metal from an air conditioning unit and furnace. The hitch was secured with a master lock.
Canada Road (simple assault/domestic violence)
Meeting in a public place to talk about their relationship didn’t work out well for one Lakeland couple on March 19. The woman said she met her boyfriend at McDonald’s (3665 Canada Road) around 9:40 p.m. at his request. A friend dropped her off and left.
She said he didn’t want her to go to a party when she expressed interest. Then he grabbed her right forearm, pushed her into the backseat of a friend’s car and jumped into the front passenger seat. The shove bumped her head on the doorjamb.
She said she could have exited but decided not to try. The couple continued to argue on the ride, and she told her boyfriend she was going to call law enforcement. She said he then told her he would put her in a body bag if she called. The friend drove them to her home about half a mile from the McDonald’s and dropped her off. The friend and boyfriend left the scene.
She said she was not injured and that no weapon was used or displayed, and officers reported there were no physical signs of injury at the scene. She turned down an offer of safe transport to another location.
March 22
Canada Road (theft from motor vehicle)
A woman visiting ATC Fitness (2991 Canada Road) returned to her car to find broken windows and learn that she was a victim of theft on March 22.
Sometime between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., someone broke both passenger windows on her Infiniti G37 and stole makeup from the seats. Staff at the gym told the responding officer there are no surveillance cameras on the side of the building where she parked.
March 23
Front Nine Drive (simple assault/domestic violence)
A victim reported on March 23 that she and her wife escalated an argument into a fight a few days earlier.
She told her version of events: Around 9 p.m. March 18, she and her wife were arguing after they left a restaurant with the victim’s stepson and a female acquaintance. When the wife threw a beer bottle at the victim, the victim fled to her apartment for safety. Then she alleged that on March 23 her wife, stepson and the female took her personal property.
Remembering the incident on March 18, she feared they would return to the apartment and hurt her.
The responding officer saw no signs of physical injury on the victim at the time of the report, and none of the three suspects were on scene at that time.
March 24
Davies Plantation (theft from motor vehicle)
Leaving her purse in an unlocked car while dropping her children off at daycare was a harsh learning experience for one Lakeland woman. She drove her Ford Expedition under the awning at the Learning Tree Day Care (9667 Davies Plantation) and noticed that a Toyota Camry pulled up near her.
She didn’t notice the driver or any occupants and was inside the facility for less than five minutes. When she returned, her driver’s side door was ajar, the Camry was gone and so was her purse.
When a deputy arrived on scene, she said someone had already spent $250 on her Discover credit card at Home Depot in the Wolfchase Galleria. She has since notified all her card vendors.
A crime scene tech inspected the car and the surrounding area and said no usable information was available for processing at the scene. The facility also had no available video surveillance.
Woodland Bend Drive (theft from building)
A woman opened her home one morning to a female acquaintance, who then stole from her, she told officers on March 24.
About six months previously, the suspect came to the victim’s home and asked to stay until she could find a ride home. She was allowed to stay in the garage from about 9 a.m. until about 12:30 p.m.
A few hours later, the victim found that her wallet had been stolen from her purse in the garage. It contained a Tennessee driver’s license and a Social Security card.
The victim didn’t file a report at the time, but she is now trying to get her identity cards replaced. She provided officers with a lead to the suspect’s Facebook page, which contains pictures of the suspect.
The two women have previously used narcotics together, she said, and the suspect often stays at motels in the Sycamore View/Macon area.
March 25
Knob Hill Road (simple assault/domestic violence)
A woman reported March 25 that her sister and mother had a big fight the previous evening.
The suspect/sister and boyfriend came home around 10:30 p.m. the previous night. She was swaying, asking for an ufamiliar person, and smelling strongly of marijuana, her brother said. Then he heard the suspect say she was high on “two bars” (units of Xanax).
After the boyfriend left, the suspect got mad and yelled when she wasn’t allowed to use an iPad.
The shouting work up their mother, and the two scuffled when the suspect tried to leave.
The brother saw the suspect push their mother down multiple times and slap her before leaving.
The mother speculated that she might have gone to her boyfriend’s apartment. Deputies found her there, and in her purse they also found a yellow Xanax bar wrapped in clear plastic.
The suspect denied arguing or fighting with her mother, saying she just went for a walk. She said she wasn’t on any drugs, but an officer saw that she was stumbling and had slurred speech.
She was charged with simple assault/domestic violence, drug/narcotic and violation of curfew. The drug weighed in at 0.3 grams total net weight (TNW).
March 26
Cobb Road and Plantation Woods Drive (misdemeanor weapon law violations)
A burglary victim got help from a friend and the SCSO on March 26. Someone stole three flat-screen TVs from the victim’s home on March 25, and his friend arranged to meet the suspect the next afternoon on the pretense of buying one of the stolen TVs. In reality, the victim and friend set up a sting operation.
The friend arranged to meet the suspect, a white male, at Walgreen’s (Canada Road and U.S. 64). While talking with the responding officer called to the scene, the victim saw the suspect driving by. The officer followed and saw the suspect trying to make a U-turn.
During the subsequent traffic stop, the officer asked the suspect to get out of his truck and then detained him at the sight of a weapon protruding from his back pocket. It was a homemade “slapjack” type weapon.
The suspect also had a steel bar wrapped in electrical tape and stowed under the driver’s seat for use as a club.
A check of the man’s driver’s license showed that it was revoked in June 2014 for DUI of alcohol or drugs. The man said he didn’t have vehicle insurance because he just got his truck back from the Memphis Police Department’s impound lot for a DUI case that is pending.
The officer saw a flat-panel TV in the rear of the truck in plain view. The victim identified his RCA universal remote control, found in the suspect’s vehicle.
March 28
El Hill Road (other theft/non-specific)
A male reported March 28 that a friend drove him to his father’s house two days earlier to pick up some items because they planned to stay at the casinos overnight. When the victim went into his father’s house, the friend drove off with the victim’s wallet.
The victim said he’s not been able to reach the friend by phone since the incident.
Woodland Crest Drive (threatening phone call)
A man who lives near the Factory Outlet Mall has been calling and harassing another man about barriers to the mall’s parking lot, the victim reported on March 28.
The victim told his caller that a cell phone company put up the concrete barriers and he’d have to make his complaints to the owner of the cell towers. Instead, the caller became irate and cursed. The suspect wasn’t at the scene at the time of the report.
March 29
Bent Crest Cove (residential burglary)
Someone took $1,100 worth of tools from a Bent Crest Cove home’s attached garage without leaving any signs of forced entry. The homeowner reported the theft on March 29.
Items stolen included a Campbell air compressor ($400), Echo leaf blower ($350) and Stihl leaf blower ($350). The owner last saw the items in his garage on March 16 when he went out of town, and then no one was at the house for two days until his daughter arrived. He said he locked the garage when he left, but his daughter went into the garage when she got home.
There was no alarm on the garage, no known security camera covering the area, and no known witness. The victim noted that his daughter has a history of drug use but denied knowing anything about the missing items.
He was unable to provide any serial numbers for the missing items.
Memphis Arlington Road (identity theft)
A man found himself the victim of identity theft totaling more than $2,300 in debt this spring.
He reported the crime on March 29 but said it began about a month earlier when he received a 1099 IRS statement from First Data Company. The statement showed that he owed $1,183.20 to a third-party merchant.
CreditCardProcessing.com also sent a statement, saying he owed $1,250 for items bought with a Unique Rugs company credit card. The man said he doesn’t own a rug company or a credit card in that company’s name.
Both statements had his Social Security Number attached to them, but he said he has no idea how anyone obtained his personal information or who might have gotten it.
First Data Company told him they would reprint the 1099 form if he sent a police report indicating fraud. The victim said he would also notify each credit agency to prevent more fraud.
March 31
Meadow Green (aggravated assault/ domestic violence)
An estranged wife went to her mother-in-law’s home and stood in the front yard, armed with a knife and yelling, the mother-in-law reported on March 31.
An officer arrived to find the suspect standing in the street, unarmed, and debris from the suspect’s vehicle was scattered across the yard.
A neighbor heard the commotion and peeked outside to see the suspect in the victim’s yard, shouting. She said the suspect’s husband and father-in-law were standing on the sidewalk by the home’s front door when the suspect approached within about six feet, pulled a knife from her waistband and raised it over her head as she yelled at the men. They fled inside, and the woman then began dancing and spinning in the front yard, the neighbor said.
The father-in-law said he and his wife had just pulled into their driveway when the suspect drove up in a gray car and blocked the driveway. She got out, arguing and demanding that they return her dog, which was staying with them.
The mother-in-law went inside while the father-in-law and the suspect’s husband stayed outside until the suspect menaced them with a knife and threatened to kill them. That’s when they rushed inside the home and locked the door behind them.
The father-in-law said the suspect stayed in the front yard, dancing and swinging a golf club. Then she smashed the windows out of her own Chevrolet Suburban, parked nearby. Her estranged husband had been using the vehicle.
The suspect said she and her husband were living together in Colorado until he moved back to Tennessee in January. She was angry because he took Jack, her yellow Labrador, and she said she would take her dog back by force if necessary.
She told the deputy she had placed the knife in the front console of the Suburban, and the deputy retrieved the weapon as evidence.
There were no injuries, and the victims declined safe transport to another location.
The woman’s gray car was towed, and her Suburban was left legally parked at the scene. The suspect was arrested and taken to Jail East.
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