Arrest Leads to Clearing of Burglaries

Desmond Powell

East Ridge police arrested a man on Wednesday which led to the clearance of four recent business burglaries, officials said.

According to a press release by the ERPD, officers on patrol heard loud thuds in the area of the Haiku Hibachi restaurant at 5313 Ringgold Road. Officers discovered the glass door had been broken by a large rock. A suspect was found hiding under a semi-trailer nearby.

The suspect, Desmond Powell, 20, of a 5th Avenue address, was arrested. The press release states that this process of smashing windows and entering businesses was similar to recent burglaries being investigated by East Ridge detectives. The detectives responded to interview the suspect.

During the interview, Powell admitted to four other business burglaries. Warrants will be sought for burglary and theft of the Valero convenience store, Sonny’s convenience store and the East Ridge Games and Videos store. One other warrant will be sought when a positive determination is made of the name of the fourth business.

According to a booking report from the Hamilton County Jail, Powell has been charged with three counts of Theft over $1,000, four counts of Burglary and one count of Theft.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.