Blount joins huge suspect roundup: Deputies seek 560 with outstanding warrants

By Mark Boxley
of The Daily Times Staff

If "Operation Apprehension" is a success, Loudon County authorities hope to nab hundreds of individuals with outstanding warrants in seven counties, including Blount.

Loudon County Sheriff Tim W. Guider announced the operation Thursday in Lenoir City, saying his office had tracked down addresses for 560 people with outstanding warrants in Loudon, Anderson, Blount, Knox, Monroe, McMinn and Roane counties.

His officers, teamed with officers from the other six counties, were out for 12 hours starting Thursday and going into the early hours of today, trying to track down and arrest them.

The last time the Loudon County Sheriff's Office conducted an operation of this size was seven years ago, Guider said.

"Over a period of time, all sheriff's departments amass a rather large amount of outstanding warrants," he said, explaining officials try to arrest the individuals when the warrants are first issued. "But for a number of reasons, those subjects are not captured."

Of the outstanding warrants, the vast majority (317) are from Loudon County, but a good number were suspected to be in Blount (49), Knox (78), Monroe (45) and Roane (41) counties.

"As you know, these individuals will cross boundary lines and county lines and one day they may be in Knox County, another day in Blount, another day in Loudon," he said.

The participating agencies were out for 12 hours starting at 4 p.m. Thursday, "and we hope we will be quite successful," Guider said. "Granted, if we have half of (the 560), we'll be happy."

Along with about five deputies, the Blount County Sheriff's Office Mobile Command Center was on the scene to aid in coordinating the efforts, and a Blount County paddy wagon was in use at a drop-off point in Knoxville.

"We're going to have that stationed in Knoxville in a central location in case somebody needs to drop off (an arrested suspect) over there," Blount County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Clark said Thursday while standing in front of the command center. "And what the (centralized paddy wagon) does is enable an officer to drop off (a suspect), get back out there and look for some other folks, instead of driving all the way back to the Loudon County Jail."

Depending on how successful the warrant roundup is, Guider said things might get tight in the Loudon County Jail.

"It's going to be difficult to house all these individuals as we get them in," he said. "If they are bondable (they will) bond them out as quickly as possible.

"But if not, we're going to ask for some assistance from ... neighboring counties to house them," he said. "We certainly want to thank our neighboring counties for helping us."

As of 9 p.m. Thursday -- with seven hours left -- about 30 outstanding warrants had been served in the operation.