Brandon Kelly Hudson
A Chattanooga man charged with befriending and stealing from a widow was booked on Tuesday afternoon.
In late October, a victim told law enforcement that Brandon Kelly Hudson, 36, was responsible for stealing around $37,000 worth of her personal jewelry between April and October of this year. The victim told police she had recently become widowed. When she needed maintenance done to her residence, her neighbors suggested she hire Hudson.
She told police he replaced rotting wood, fixed plumbing, and other such actions. She told police Hudson “immediately began to shower (the victim) with attention/affection” and gained her trust by giving her the access code to his own residence.
The victim told police an intimate relationship began between the two, and that she would trust Hudson to stay at her house whenever she had to leave. The victim said at some point, a neighbor spoke to the victim, and the neighbor described Hudson’s behavior as “roguish” and told the victim he had targeted several other widows in the area prior to meeting her.
Police said the neighbor showed the victim a cellphone snapshot of Hudson with the victim’s jewelry in his “unlawful possession.” When the victim took inventory of her jewelry collection, she realized she was missing many pieces, as well as coins, stamps, and family heirlooms.
The woman told police she received second-hand information regarding other individuals entering the house with Hudson. But no other neighbors actually witnessed Hudson stealing anything from the victim’s residence.
On Saturday law enforcement again contacted the victim and she again told her story to an investigator. The investigator discovered Hudson had sold some of the victim’s jewelry to a pawn shop in Dayton, with the sale dated Sept. 8. The victim went to the pawn shop and confirmed those items were hers, and that she did not give Hudson permission to sell them.
On Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement located Hudson and took him into custody. Hudson is facing a charge of theft of property over $10,000.