Benton Co. deputies link suspect to numerous burglaries
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BENTON COUNTY, Tenn. — Deputies in Benton County get a big break in a string of break-ins. After finding a stash of stolen items, deputies think they have now solved at least four unsolved burglaries. Investigators raided a home Monday night, finding everything from jewelry to power tools, building their burglary case against Jeremiah Lesslie. “We brought out a pick-up truck full and two SUVs that we loaded down,” Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher said. Numerous alarm calls to The River convenience store on Oct. 1 led deputies to Lesslie and a younger relative. “He called in other units, and they searched the area and found two suspects roaming around and then detained them,” Christopher said. According to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, the two men tried to break into two trailers behind the store by cutting their locks, but they were caught red handed. Now the company that owns the trailers has put up a bulldozer to try and prevent it from happening again. Lesslie’s next-door neighbor says he may have been a target as well. “We had some tools that came up missing some time ago,” Mike Townsend said. “We didn’t think anything about it.” According to Christopher, a tip from the Huntingdon Police Department led them to the cache of stolen goods inside Lesslie’s home. “Going over some lists from a pawn shop, the Huntingdon Police Chief noticed his name,” Christopher said. Overall, Lesslie’s neighbors are shocked. “Never expected anything like that out of him,” Townsend said. “I guess he just made a bad choice and a bad decision.” The sheriff’s office says their investigation is far from over as they try to recover more missing items. Lesslie currently is being held on related burglary charges in the Benton County Jail. He is set to be arraigned Wednesday morning.
