Monday, January 31, 2011
Arrests Made In Weekend Mailbox Incidents
Reports of crimes in western Lawrence that involved mailboxes led to the arrest of two young men during the weekend.
Tracy Eric Hunt, 20 of 10 White Oak Drive, and Brett Allen Bassham, 19 of 1154 Joe Williams Road, Five Points, were booked through the Lawrence County Jail overnight Saturday on theft and vandalism charges in connection with the incidents.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies were initially asked to investigate vandalisms and thefts of mailboxes in the rural areas of Greenwood, Gore and Beeler Roads. Reports show that around fifteen mailboxes had been demolished, damaged or stolen in those areas.
It was shortly after 12:00 a.m. Sunday that deputies were dispatched on a suspicious person call to O.K. Baptist Church. The caller indicated a truck had sustained flat tires and that those inside had tossed a mailbox and post from the bed of the truck.
When they arrived at the church parking lot deputies report making contact with four individual; Hunt, Bassham, and two female teens. They were reportedly working to change two flat tires on Bassham’s truck.
The reporting deputy indicates he inquired about how they had sustained two flat tires and that Bassham first said he had heard a noise, heard air leaking from the tires, then pulled into the parking lot.
The deputy reports he inquired about the mailbox and that the group admitted it “belonged to a substitute teacher at LCHS.” Deputies began to investigate and report that the mailbox had been taken from a home at 98 Craig Road.
Deputies drove about the area and discovered damage to a yard at 58 O.K. Road. They made contact with the resident who said there had been no damage to his yard earlier in the evening.
He told deputies had been experiencing some problems with persons damaging his yard. As a result he had placed a V-shaped spike strip in his front yard. They found that the strip had been run over and moved.
When deputies confronted Bassham about the incident, he reportedly admitted he had caused the damages.
As a result of the incident Hunt and Bassham were arrested on one count of theft of property apiece. Bassham was additionally charged with one count of vandalism. Both were transported to the Lawrence County Detention Center and processed.
Hunt and Bassham are scheduled to answer the charges through Lawrence County General Sessions Court on February 14, 2011.
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