CLEVELAND, Tenn. – When Sheriff Eric Watson took nine felons to church in May 2017, they essentially disappeared without a trace from the Bradley County Jail.
The jail has no records showing the nine men, whose crimes ranged from manufacturing methamphetamine to burglary, aggravated assault and vehicular homicide, had been taken outside the facility or brought back.
The sheriff’s office said Watson and four others, plus a K-9, escorted the prisoners to and from Council Baptist Church in Charleston, Tenn., on May 21, 2017.
But even though all transports are required to be reported to dispatch, there’s no record at the Bradley 911 Center that anyone was hauling prisoners that day.
At church, the sheriff called them “former prisoners” who had straightened out their lives through the jail’s faith-based programs. Photos Watson posted on Facebook showed them in civilian clothes, mingling with the congregation, with no signs of shackles or guards nearby.