Tips from the public following an article in the Elizabethton Star helped police to identify and arrest a suspect in a recent theft from a home in the Valley Forge community.
Carter County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Christopher Reichenbach and J.B. Simerly arrested Gregory C. Baird, 42, of Elizabethton, Wednesday morning on a warrant charging him with theft of property over $500 and criminal trespassing.
On Dec. 24 , the STAR published a story regarding a theft from a home on Nanny Goat Hill. Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office released photos of the suspect captured by the home’s security system and asked for the public’s help in identifying the man.
“The Carter County Sheriff’s Office received numerous tips as to the identity of Baird following photographs published in the STAR on Dec. 24 where video provided to investigators by a homeowner captured a male suspect carrying two chain saws from a residence on Nanny Goat Hill Road and leaving in a dark green Montero,” CCSO Investigator Harmon Duncan said.
Wednesday morning Duncan received a tip that both Baird and the vehicle seen in the security footage were at the home at 291 Roosevelt Ave., in the Biltmore community.
When Reichenbach and Simerly arrived at the home, they found Baird in a garage on the property, Duncan said.
The investigation into the theft is ongoing, Duncan said, adding officers are searching for a female accomplice who acted as a lookout during the theft.
According to Duncan, Baird has been convicted of stealing from homes before.
“Baird was recently released from prison in North Carolina, and upon his return to Tennessee was reinstated to 15 years supervised probation as a result of his 2012 conviction for aggravated burglary and theft from a residence in Carter County in 2011 and other convictions to include violations of probation,” Duncan said.
Baird is being held at the Carter County Detention Center under a $5,000 bond.