Bradley County Sheriff's Office arrests five people in string of four burglaries

The Bradley County Sheriff's Office is shown in this 2017 file photo.
The Bradley County Sheriff's Office is shown in this 2017 file photo.

Five people have been arrested from separate burglary cases in Bradley County, according to the Bradley County Sheriff's Office.

The first case unfolded on July 8 when deputies with the sheriff's office responded to a home on Perry Street on a burglary call.

At the scene, the homeowner told deputies someone had broken in through a window and taken two large flat-screen TVs, a jewelry box and a window air conditioning unit, a release states.

During the course of the investigation, deputies learned surveillance video from a nearby business had captured the suspect vehicle.

A week later on July 15, Deputy Justin Buckelew spotted the vehicle on Benton Pike and pulled it over.

After being questioned by investigators, the driver, 43-year-old Sherry Renee Smith, of Cleveland, Tennessee, and her son, 19-year-old Marvin Gage Sneed, also of Cleveland, were taken into custody. Both were charged with aggravated burglary and theft of property.

Some of the stolen property, including one of the TVs and the jewelry box were recovered, deputies said.

In the second case, deputies responded to a home in the 1000 block of Sixth Street NE on Monday on a report of a burglary.

The home had been ransacked and several items stolen, another release states. Detectives collected evidence from the scene, which led to the identification of 47-year-old Benjamin Terry Harrell, of Cleveland.

On Tuesday, Harrell was located at a residence in the 1200 block of Second Street NE, where they found items that had been taken the Sixth Street home.

Harrell was taken into custody and transported to the Bradley County Jail, where he was booked on charges of burglary and theft over $1,000, according to the sheriff's office.

Also on Tuesday, detectives executed a search warrant at a home located at 292 Old Mt. Harmon Road owned by Carl Dean Howard.

During the search, several pieces of property - which had been taken from a home on Baker Bridge Road, a home on Spring Place Road and from a storage unit on Waterlevel Highway - were recovered, deputies said. The items included a clothes dryer, a stove, hand tools and several totes containing keepsakes.

The suspect, Carl Dean Howard, is facing charges of aggravated burglary, burglary and property theft. He is currently jailed on unrelated burglary charges in the Polk County Jail.

The stolen items were returned to the victims.

And again on Tuesday, deputies responded to a home burglary in the 3000 block of Spring Place Road.

The victim said someone had broken into his home and an outbuilding, taking numerous items, including a tiller, a report states.

While members of the sheriff's office were still on scene, a neighbor came over and told them he knew the person who had the tiller.

Billy Charles Evans, 41, of Benton, Tennessee, was found to have the tiller and it appeared to have been freshly spray painted in the grass in an effort to conceal the tiller's description.

He was taken into custody and booked on charges of burglary and theft of property, according to the sheriff's office.

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