Dayton TN. Nov. 22 2007
An Oklahoma couple who tried to shoplift some speaker wire from the Dayton Wal-Mart might end up with a more severe punishment than pacing the Wal-Mart sidewalk bearing signs indicating their crime.Douglas Ray Tullis, 30, and his wife, Jennifer Sue Zuckerman, 25, both of Choctaw, Okla., were arrested after a scuffle, a car chase and a K-9 pursuit through the woods at the foot of
Graysville Mountain Friday afternoon.After questioning the pair and investigating their story Dayton Police Lt. Jeff Hill and Investigator Darrell Bell determined that the couple had stolen approximately $300,000 worth of merchandise and vehicles in a crime spree that began in Oklahoma City.The incident began locally shortly after noon on Friday at the Wal-Mart on Rhea County Highway in Dayton. Security personnel at the store confronted Tullis after seeing him opening a package of speaker wire."They had stolen some speakers recently and they needed the speaker wire to hook them up," Hill said.Tullis fought the security officers before escaping in a late model Chevrolet Silverado truck with what were believed to be Arizona tags.Hill said he answered the dispatcher's call and got behind a Silverado pickup truck at the intersection of Dayco Drive and Old Graysville Road."It had a Georgia tag on it, but it was supposed to be a man and a woman that's who was in the truck so I followed him into Graysville and stopped him at the beginning of Cranmore Cove Road," Hill said.Hill asked the driver for identification but the driver said he didn't have any."So I asked him to shut the truck off, and when I did, he just took off," he said.Graysville Police Chief Thomas Mahoney joined Hill in pursuit of the Silverado."They hit a hole in the road on Bridge Street and blew their front left tire," Mahoney said. "But they just kept on going."The pursuit continued down Harrison Avenue. The truck then cut across a field toward Coulterville.Graysville Fire Department Lt. Zach Beene joined the pursuit in his four-wheel drive truck and Hill joined a citizen in another four-wheel drive truck to continue the chase across the field."He had torn up some fences and blown that tire and we came to where he had eventually wrecked the truck and they had taken off on foot," Hill said.Rhea County Sheriff's Department Detective Mike Bice had heard the pursuit call on the radio and showed up with Sheriff's Department K-9 Road Patrol Officer Wayne Wilkey. With the assistance of the department's bloodhound, Billy, they pursued the couple and apprehended them in the woods."Darrell and I ran the truck and found out it was stolen out of Oklahoma City," Hill said. "We questioned the girl and the guy later that afternoon and they told us they had stolen four big-screen TVs in Blount County—two of them were still in the pickup truck— and that they were living in a camper at Uchee Marina in Meigs County, so that evening we went over there."At the marina they recovered a camper, an enclosed automobile transport trailer, a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and a dually pickup truck, all stolen from Oklahoma. They also found several four-wheel ATV's and a motorcycle stolen from Jasper, Ga., and Blue Ridge, Ga., according to Hill.Upon further investigation it was determined that the couple had pawned an ATV in Dayton and pawned other four-wheelers and a motorcycle in surrounding counties, Hill said. The pair also told Hill and Bell that they had stolen additional trailers that are presently in Oklahoma and North Carolina, he said.The couple frequently stole groceries from Wal-Mart by arriving at the store with empty Wal-Mart bags in their pockets then filling the bags with food and walking out, according to Hill."They told me they liked it here and were thinking of settling down in Dayton," he said.Wal-Mart is expected to press charges of shoplifting and assault, Hill said, but the couple will most likely be extradited to Oklahoma, where they face several charges."Tullis said they originally left Oklahoma because of some drug charges they face there," Bell said. "Most of the items we recovered were stolen in Oklahoma so they'll face charges there for the thefts."Hill said the couple has outstanding warrants from other states as well."I think [Dayton Police] Chief [Chris] Sneed is charging them with theft over $10,000 as well," Hill said.The couple are being held in the Rhea County Jail.
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