Jonathan Graham Jr.
A Soddy Daisy man has been arrested in a church burglary in Bradley County.
Jonathan Graham Jr. is charged with burglary, theft over $10,000, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Wednesday, patrol deputies responded to a wooded area on Burke Road to assist a constable investigate a suspicious vehicle that had trespassed on private property. Contact was made with the driver, Graham, and a small bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine was in plain sight of the driver’s seat.
While performing a safety pat down of Graham, a needle was located in his pants pocket that contained what appeared to be methamphetamine as well. Deputies also observed several items of musical equipment in plain view within the vehicle while talking to Graham. After he was taken into custody, inventory of the vehicle resulted in a mixer board, computer tower, and other musical equipment being located, which had not been reported stolen at that time.
Earlier Thursday, detectives and deputies responded to a burglary that had occurred at a church. While investigating, an EBT benefit card bearing the name of Graham was found in the church’s sanctuary area. Additionally, equipment stolen from the church included items located in Graham’s vehicle the previous day.
Further investigation by detectives led to the discovery of numerous items stolen at the church that had been pawned at a pawn shop in the area. Detectives were also able to discover that Graham was attempting to sell stolen items from the church on a website. An undercover operation resulted in Graham trying to sell the stolen items to detectives and additional stolen items were located in a residence’s bedroom. Additionally, detectives also discovered that Graham had his girlfriend pawn one of the items stolen from the church at a pawn shop.