Christopher Lee Chambers
Warrants charging a Texas man with the Jan. 25 burglary of the Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store in Charleston, Tn., have been issued in Bradley County.
Through a forensic examination of items that are connected to the burglary, Christopher Lee Chambers, 29, of Mabank, Tex., was identified as a suspect in the burglary and is named on warrants charging him with burglary and theft over $10,000.
Patrol deputies and detectives involved in the initial response to the store discovered a large hole in the roof had been left by the perpetrator. A safe weighing several thousand pounds had been taken from the business.
Officers later recovered the safe from the back of a pickup truck that was stolen earlier the same day from an Athens dealership. The safe had been cut open and its contents removed.
During their investigation detectives found similar crimes stretching from Texas to Tennessee where the same modus operandi was used of cutting a hole in the roof and removing the safe.
Chambers is being sought by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office on the active warrants. He is also wanted on an outstanding warrant issued by the sheriff’s office in Hopkins County, Tex., for Organized Crime, with a bond of $500,000.
Captain of Investigations Steve Lawson said, “This case is very indicative of our folks taking the evidence collected from this scene and making the most of it. The BCSO deputies, Charleston Police officers, detectives, and our forensics investigators made this case by taking their time and looking at the totality of the evidence. I appreciate everyone’s efforts and the excellent work exhibited in this case to identify a suspect. Our investigators continue working with agencies in Texas and Louisiana in an attempt to identify others involved in the burglary as well as to apprehend Chambers."
Sheriff Eric Watson commended all officers involved in the handling of this case. “The BCSO, Charleston P.D. and other agencies working together in a combined effort brought this case to where we are today. All these officers did an outstanding job.”