On December 6, 2017, six vehicles were reported stolen from a downtown hotel. A BOLO was issued shortly after the reports were taken. Lt. Jeff Pappas, the Central Business District (CBD) Commander, heard the BOLO and knew this was an unusual case due to some recent activity that had been discussed in recent crime meetings. Lt. Pappas immediately sent Officer Joe Shackelford to the hotel to begin the investigation. Based on Officer Shackelford’s interview and some additional information Lt. Pappas had discovered, Officers Mike Rupe and Jason Cunningham were advised to start a perimeter search for the vehicles due to a previous incident where stolen vehicles had been left near the scene of the theft, but retrieved later.
Officers Rupe and Cunningham along with Lt. Pappas and Officer Shackelford were conducting their search when two of the vehicles were observed driving through the Old City. Officers Cunningham and Rupe attempted to stop one of the vehicles, and after a brief pursuit was successful in taking one suspect into custody. Lt. Pappas located the other vehicle abandoned behind a building on Jessamine Street at McCalla Avenue. The suspect in that vehicle was also taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit.
Both suspects were transported to the Safety Building where auto theft investigators conducted an interview. Both suspects confessed to the thefts and identified the locations they had left the remaining stolen vehicles. Officer Shackelford recovered the vehicles a short time later. These same individuals had already been identified as either suspects or had been charged with other crimes in the downtown area and were awaiting trial.
Chief Rausch said, “Because of these officers’ professionalism and dedication to protecting the city and citizens of Knoxville, two repeat predatory criminals were taken into custody without placing any citizens into undue harm. We commend the CBD officers’ working knowledge of their district along with their ability to quickly work together as a team to keep downtown Knoxville a safe place to work, live and play.”
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