Stealing weed eaters lands man in jail for a 44th time

An Old Middlesboro Highway home owner helped solve a crime last week by giving the police the name and video of the burglary suspect.
  It is not common for crime victims to have this information, but Sergeants Cody Chapman and Preston Prim  used it to catch the alleged crook.

Chapman and Prim found the alleged suspect, 47-year old Roger Waldroop (pictured above) of South 8th St., La Follette, in the Food Lion parking lot in east La Follette.

Waldroop told police he went to the home on Old Middlesboro Highway and crawled through a window to gain access to the home, according to the report.   He went on to say that he tore the camera off the wall and then gathered up some items, laid them on the front porch and then left them there.

However, Waldroop said he went outside to the carport and took two weed eaters, loaded them up in his vehicle and left the property.  He told the sergeants  he sold them to a local business owner.  The businessman gave the weed eaters to Chapman and Prim who in turn returned the weed eaters to the victim.

Waldroop appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and was bound over to criminal court with a date set for March 18.  He remains housed in the county jail this morning on a $100,000 secured bond.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 02/13/2019-6AM)