Alcoa man nabbed in auto burglaries
By J.J. Kindred | (jj.kindred@thedailytimes.com)
An Alcoa man was arrested early Sunday morning for alleged vehicle burglaries at two hotels near Alcoa Highway, according to an Alcoa Police report.
Alcoa police officers responded to a call at about 2:20 a.m. in reference to a vehicle burglary at the Comfort Suites hotel at 140 Cusick Road.
The hotel clerk said she received a call from one of the hotel guests, that a man was in the parking lot taking items out of a 2008 Ford F550 pickup truck with the driver’s side window broken, and had left driving a white Jeep Cherokee.
An officer looked around the truck to find the owner’s information, and was notified by another officer that he had located the burglary suspect behind the Courtyard Marriott nearby at 141 Furrow Way.
The officer saw the suspect, identified as 50-year-old Mark Allen Boling, of Payne Avenue, sitting in the driver’s seat of a white Chrysler van wearing black batting gloves and the driver’s side window broken.
Boling attempted to duck down in the seat and the officer commanded him to surrender several times before he finally complied and held his hands up.
Boling was asked if he was alone and where his vehicle was. He responded that he was indeed alone and walked to the hotel.
While searching Boling, the officer found a miniflashlight, pliers and a plastic bag in his pockets. He also had three $20 bills that he wished to have released to his family. He refused to talk after being read his Miranda rights.
It was discovered that Boling’s Payne Avenue address was nearby as he was being taken into custody, and as he was being taken there by the officers, they discovered the same white Jeep Cherokee that was described in the Comfort Suites parking lot.
The vehicle was registered to Boling’s son, who confirmed the Jeep belonged to him and gave the officer consent to search it. A gold bag in the front passenger seat and a red tire jack on the floor passenger side were found, and Boling’s son said the items were not his.
Items identified
The officer returned to the Comfort Suites and spoke with the owner of the burglarized Ford pickup truck, Daniel Shackleford of Rock Hill, who was shown a red tire jack and identified it as his.
Shackleford looked through his truck and also found missing a rechargeable battery charger, two Master locks, a Nikon camera and charger, three $20 bills, two credit cards, a backup camera display monitor, a Garmin GPS system, three drill batteries and a charger, an iPhone case and a pair of sunglasses.
Besides the tire jack, one of the Master locks, the battery charger and the camera charger were recovered from the yellow bag inside the Jeep Cherokee, and those items and the three $20 bills were all returned to Shackleford.
The owner of the white Chrysler van that Boling was found in, Charles Ruth of Caryville, was out of town. Courtyard Marriott personnel were to have Ruth contact police upon his return.
Boling was charged with two counts of burglary of a vehicle and one count of possession of burglary tools. He was being held in the Blount County Detention Facility in lieu of $31,000 bond pending a 9 a.m. hearing Thursday in Blount County General Sessions Court.
