Authorities will take out a warrant for the arrest of a Chattanooga man for stealing an $800 gold necklace after police tracked him down via Facebook.

According to a police report, officers were called to GT Buy Sell on Ringgold Road last week after the owner said a customer walked off with a gold chain. The owner told police that the man – described as six feet tall with gold teeth, a stocky build and tattoos on both arms –  was in the store for about eight minutes before getting into a large SUV and heading east  on Ringgold Road.

The owner of the store told police that he was contacted earlier via Facebook by a party whose profile name was “Hermanz Buffet,” asking about the gold chain that the business had advertised. A picture on the profile matched the man who left the store with the chain. The report states that an officer reviewed the Facebook page which gave no real identity to “Hermanz Buffet.” However, the officer noticed that the man was “tagged” in a photo under a separate profile named “Long Way.”

The photo of the man on “Long Way” appeared to be the same man who took the chain from the store. The report states that this Facebook page gave the man’s date of birth and said that he lived in Chattanooga. The officer searched a law enforcement data base for a black male with the date of birth being in 1988 using the name T. Long. 

According to the report, the law enforcement data base came back with the name of Tracy Lamont Long. The officer also obtained booking photos of Long from the Hamilton County Jail for past arrests. Those photos matched the man whose profile was “Long Way.”

The report states that the officer got back in touch with the owner of the business later that day. The owner had done his own search of Facebook and he too had identified Tracy Long  as the man who took the necklace.

The report states that a warrant for Theft under $1,000 will be issued for Long.

_ 3452 Ringgold Rd.: Police were dispatched to the address on Sunday afternoon in regard to a woman walking down the middle of the busy highway. According to a police report, when an officer got into the area he saw a woman matching the description given by the reporting party in the parking lot of the Walgreeens. The report states that the officer saw the woman take a drink out of a blue bottle in a paper bag. When the officer approached the woman, later identified as Bricara King, she asked for a ride. King denied drinking, even though the officer saw the Bud Light bottle that was still cold in the paper bag.

The report states “when asked if she was drinking the bottle in her hand, she advised no. She was stumbling on her feet and appeared to be nodding off while standing.”

The report states there was sufficient reason to believe the woman posed a danger to herself while in public and placed under arrest for Public Intoxication.

King requested to be taken to the hospital because she didn’t want to go to jail, the report states. Once at the hospital, the woman refused treatment. King was then taken to the Hamilton County Jail.

_ 3502 Ringgold Rd.: Police were called to the Ace Hardware at this address on Sunday in regard to a shoplifter. According to a police report, dispatch advised that a man had attempted to steal items from the store, then took off in a black GMC pickup truck. When the officer arrived he spoke with the assistant manager who said that the man came into the store and removed Stihl power tools from the store and put them in his truck.

A clerk advised the assistant manager of what was happening and the assistant manager confronted the suspect in the parking lot. The assistant manager snatched the tools – valued at $1,7994 – from the bed of the truck before the suspect got out of the parking lot. He also got the plate number of the vehicle.

According to the report, the suspect – a thin white male, about six feet tall  in his late 20s – had used a cutting tool to snap the cable securing the Stihl chainsaw and cut-off saw from the display area. 

Police have tentatively identified the owner of the pickup truck. According to the report, the business does not wish to prosecute at this time.