Police have charged 30-year-old Arthur Thacker with stealing radios from a car lot on Rossville Boulevard.
Thacker, of 3211 5th Ave., is charged with public intoxication, nine counts of theft of property and nine counts of burglary in the incident Saturday.
A woman flagged down a Hamilton County officer saying a white male was breaking into cars at a lot at the 4300 block of Rossville Boulevard. She said he was wearing a blue jeans and a light-colored jacket.
The officer said he saw a man matching that description walking down Clio Avenue. He kept reaching into his jacket. When he did put his hands up, three car batteries fell out of his jacket.
The female witness came to the scene and made a positive identification of Thacker.
She said she had seen him with more than three batteries.
Thacker said he got the batteries from a family member.
Police were advised that several batteries were missing from a lot at 4313 Rossville Blvd. One radio was found there under a vehicle. Thacker said he had gone to that lot to look at a car to buy.
Thacker then said he had gotten the radios from an unknown black male who had just handed him the radios as he left the lot.
The owner of the lot, Keri Miller, came to the scene and found that radios had been taken from nine different vehicles. The radios are valued at $150-$200.
Four were returned to the car lot owner, but five are still missing.