It may have only seemed like a dent in their enormous caseload of 5,000 outstanding warrants, but the Bradley County Sheriff’s Fugitive Warrant Unit ~ with a little help from their friends ~  managed to serve 100 felony and misdemeanor warrants last week.

Lt. Eric Watson of the Court Services and Fugitive Warrants Unit said BCSO joined ranks with the TBI, U.S. Marshall’s Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, and U.S. Attorney to launch a warrant blitz code-named “Operation: Take-Down.”“We had over 20 Bradley County deputies and special agents working this thing over a four-day period last week ~ from Wednesday to Saturday,” Watson said. “We managed to serve or clear somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 outstanding warrants.”Watson, who also serves as state representative in the 22nd District, said that maybe 100 warrants didn’t sound like a lot when compared to the 5,000 backlog, but it was a start.“These weren’t new warrants,” Watson said. “They were from previous attempts that were unsuccessful. It’s not always easy to locate felons, or even misdemeanor cases, because of their transient nature ~ these people tend to move around a lot and don’t usually leave forwarding addresses. So I guess we have to take our successes where we can get them. And some of these warrants were for robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, drug possession, some of them were failure to pay child support, and some of them were fugitive warrants. So, all things considered, I don’t think 100, give or take, is too bad.”

Sheriff Tim Gobble commended the BCSO Fugitive Warrant Unit on what he called a successful operation.“The backlog of unserved warrants was one of the main areas I wanted to focus on when I took office, “ the Sheriff said. “It’s important that we get these cases cleared for a number of reasons; but mainly, some of these people we’re trying to serve are guilty of serious crime and they need to be off the street, not just chased off into another county. I appreciate the help of the other state and federal agencies that joined with us and I appreciate the hard work of our Fugitive Warrant Unit. They all did a good job and I think the fact that they cleared 100 cases in four days in quite an accomplishment.

“When Sheriff Gobble took office,” Watson said, “he moved some people around and redistributed some resources to better accommodate the problem of warrant backlog. In the past, this was an area that had been somewhat understaffed and neglected. Operation: Take-Down is a good example of better management of resources within the department, and better cooperation with state and federal law enforcement agencies.”

The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the federal and state agencies involved in Operation: TakeDown, are all active in Project Safe Neighborhoods, which focuses on fighting residential theft, gang activity and illegal drugs in our community.

Donohoo Charged with Two Burglaries at Ocoee Middle School

Bradley County Sheriff’s detectives filed charges Monday against Marcus Dewayne Donohoo following two break-ins at Ocoee Middle School on Ocoee Street . The most recent break-in at the school occurred Sunday night and was caught on video by the school’s security system.

Donohoo was identified from the video.  He was picked up for questioning less than three hours after notification of the burglary by school personnel and gave statements related to Sunday night’s burglary and one that occurred on July 25th.   

Sheriff Tim Gobble pointed out Donohoo’s arrest was the result of the criminal investigations division, the corrections division, the patrol division, and crime scene processing personnel in the forensics lab all working together.  Detective Lt. Brian Quinn, Detective Joseph Lea, and patrol deputy J.J. Johnson arrived at the school around 7:45am Monday morning to begin the investigation.

Property that was taken from the school included cash, a DVD player, several cellphones that school administrators had taken from students, and a radio. A full recovery has been made.

Detectives also reported damage to three desks.   

Donohoo, 29, of a Cloverleaf Circle address, is charged with theft over $1,000, theft under $500, vandalism over $500 and two counts of burglary.  

Last Tuesday (7/31/07), I filed a petition in Circuit Court on behalf of the citizens of Bradley County. This petition was filed as a last resort and as required by law after failing to reach an agreement with the Bradley County Commission and County Mayor Gary Davis regarding the 2007-2008 budget for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office. I filed this petition for two reasons. First, it was the right thing to do. The citizens of Bradley County deserve the best that law enforcement has to offer, and the men and women of the BCSO deserve adequate and competitive salaries and compensation. These deputies risk their lives every time they pull a shift and they deserve the safest possible conditions within which to operate.Secondly, I did this because I was required to by law (Tennessee Code Annotated 8-20-101). Also, according to the CTAS Sheriff’s Handbook, the Sheriff must enter into a letter of agreement or file a petition with the court. “Doing nothing,” reads the CTAS code, “is not an option” (emphasis mine). Since an agreement with the Mayor and the Commission could not be reached, I did what the law requires.

To fulfill my mandated obligations under the law, I cannot agree to a budget that places deputies’ salaries at 22 percent below the regional average (and $5,000 a year behind the average pay for the Cleveland Police Department ). Nor can I agree to a budget that forces those deputies to depend on outdated equipment and exhausted patrol vehicles (over 30 BCSO patrol cars have logged 200,000-plus miles, with some approaching 300,000). Also, the Sheriff’s Office is the largest county department. It is a huge operation that combines law enforcement, patrol, criminal investigations, court security, warrant service and corrections. It is futile and a disservice to the citizens of Bradley County to try and effectively administer these critical areas without adequate equipment or staffing.