Curtis Bryson
A couple is facing auto theft and burglary charges, including breaking into the vehicle of the wife of a Chattanooga Police Department detective and running up charges on a credit card.
Charges were bound to the Grand Jury against Curtis Anthony Bryson, 36, and Clarissa Dials, 36.
The detective said his wife's unlocked 2009 Grand Caravan was entered through an unlocked door and her purse stolen.
Video showed a couple, both with distinctive tattoos, making numerous purchases with credit cards from the purse.
They were seen driving a Nissan Maxima with its hood, roof, trunk and wheels painted black.
The painted Maxima was spotted on July 27 at the Circle K on Lee Highway. Bryson and Ms. Dials were with the vehicle. They were taken into custody.
Numerous stolen items were found in the vehicle along with multiple syringes.
The owner of the Maxima said it was stolen July 5 from the parking lot of the YMCA on Shallowford Road. He said he was working out inside the Y and had his car keys near him, but they were taken.
He said when he saw the condition of his vehicle he no longer wanted it. He got a $14,300 insurance settlement.
Another man testified in the case that his 2009 Jaguar XL was stolen from outside his East Brainerd residence. He said he paid $36,000 for the car in 2012.
He said he put out information about the auto theft on Facebook, and a woman Facebook friend informed him she was at a store where she spotted his Jaguar. He said he immediately went there and saw Bryson and Ms. Dials, but did not know at the time they were suspects. He said, instead, he grabbed another man and held him until police arrived. That man was not charged.
When he got his car back, it had been damaged, he said. "They ran over something with it," he said.
Clarissa Dials