Police target Greenback woman in vehicle thefts

By Dan Hall Daily Times Correspondent
 
Sweetwater and Alcoa Police may have solved two vehicle thefts with the arrest of a Greenback woman in Dalton, Ga. on Aug. 28.

According to sources, Heather Leann Fraze, 26, Marble Lane, Greenback, was taken into custody on a list of charges that included theft by receiving stolen property and drugs.

Dalton Police spokesman Bruce Frazier said police received a call of a person underneath a vehicle at a local auto dealership in Dalton early Aug. 28 and found Fraze in the parking lot. Officers found that Fraze had some medication on her that was not in its original container. Frazier said police also discovered that the vehicle she occupied had been reported stolen.

Fraze was charged with loitering, theft by receiving stolen property, drugs in wrong container (possession of legend drugs) and possession of a Schedule IV drug. She was being held in the Whitfield County Jail pending a $10,000 bond.

Fraze also faces possible charges in Alcoa and Sweetwater in connection with vehicle thefts on Aug. 26.

Phillip Thompson, County Road 296, Sweetwater, was at work in Sweetwater when he noticed his vehicle was missing. Thompson told Sweetwater Police Sgt. Kris King that he left his keys in his 1996 Dodge 3500 extended cab truck. Dalton Police recovered the truck on Aug. 28.

While on the scene making the report, Sweetwater Police Officer Daniel Johnson discovered a turquoise green Ford Windstar parked in the parking lot near where Thompson's truck had been.

Johnson learned the van had been stolen Aug. 26 from Alcoa and the right passenger window had been shattered, but the keys were still in the switch.

Kara Helton, Leann Lane, Walland, told Alcoa Police Officer James Bowman that the van was stolen during a 90-minute period while she was visiting her mother on East Lincoln Road in Alcoa.¬ Helton said she had left her keys in the ignition.

Alcoa Police Detective Kristopher Sanders and Sweetwater Police Captain Detective Bill Illingworth were still working on the case Friday. Sources said more charges were pending in the case.

BACK
9/7/09