Bradley County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a possible burglary in progress at a business in southeast Bradley County early Tuesday morning. The owner of the business reported he received a notification from his surveillance system alerting him of a male going through his warehouse and office space. A possible suspect vehicle was observed leaving the area. The truck was identified by the first arriving deputy as possibly being a red Chevrolet S-10, but deputies were unable to make contact with the truck.
Investigators from the Criminal Investigations Division responded to the business for evidence collection. Numerous items were found lying in the parking lot which were taken from inside the warehouse during the burglary.
Video surveillance confirmed the red S-10 truck pulled onto the property at 4:12 a.m. Detectives were able to observe a male wearing identifiable shoes, gloves, a mask, headlamp, and glasses inside of the business warehouse. The male was also seen taking numerous items, some of which were the items found on the ground in the parking lot.
Through a cooperative effort between patrol and investigators the suspect, Thomas “Andy” Ledford, was identified through distinct characteristics from a previous encounter with law enforcement while driving a red S-10 truck.
Detectives made contact with Thomas “Andy” Ledford on Wednesday at a Spring Place Road location, where he was wearing similar items observed in the surveillance video from the business burglary. Ledford denied any involvement with the burglary, but claimed he could retrieve one of the stolen chainsaws. After obtaining consent to search from the property owner at the Spring Place location, other items were recovered after being identified as stolen property taken during the burglary.
Ledford was arrested and while in route to the jail, he attempted to throw his shoes out of a Bradley County Sheriff’s Office patrol car window.
Thomas “Andy” Ledford was booked at the Bradley County Jail on charges of burglary, vandalism and theft over $1,000 stemming from the business burglary on Tuesday.