Local man caught in the act

A local man is facing charges for being in possession of stolen property. This case began in July 2019 when Marshall County Deputies were dispatched to a motel near the Kingston Casino. Once on scene, deputies were informed that an individual – later identified as Johnny Hendrix – allegedly stole a couple of weed eaters from the property.

This call sounded familiar to officers because they had previously been summoned to that area on theft charges. According to the police report from the original call, the suspect “had cleverly dismantled the outside structure of the building to gain access.”

While checking the area, deputies discovered wheelbarrow tracks. They surmised that the wheelbarrow was the mode of transportation the suspect had used to move the stolen items. The odd part about the investigation was officers found the suspect left a majority of the stolen property behind and tried to hide it in some bushes, possibly to return later and get the items.

During the investigation, officers were notified of a similar crime that occurred approximately one mile from the current crime scene site. The deputies were informed that a suspect broke into a storage unit west of the motel. This crime scene also had the stolen items hidden at the fence line near the rear of the property. This is when officers noticed there was a pattern to the crimes.

The assumption was that the suspect left behind some items because they were too large to take in a wheelbarrow by themselves, and also the suspect had no means of transportation and was on foot. This new information made the officers begin to keep a watchful eye on pedestrians in that immediate area.

When officers began pooling the information they had, one person kept popping up as a plausible suspect. Reportedly, Hendrix, a 30-year-old male from Kingston, was spending a large amount of time at his girlfriend’s house in the Oakridge community. This information was important to the investigation, because the Oakridge community was walking distance from the crime scenes. Hendrix was spotted walking the area multiple times. Unfortunately, deputies only had their suspicion, and that is not enough to arrest somebody.

January 2020 rolls around and the Sheriff’s Office receives another theft call from Knobb Road. The victim found some of the stolen items in a ditch near his property. When deputies arrived on scene, they found the same M.O., the items were put in a wagon, and hauled away. Except this time, the suspect did not get far with the wagon. It was left in a driveway nearby.

A few days later, the original complainant called again to report yet another break in. This time, the suspect made off with multiple car batteries and rustic looking items. Hendrix was sill the prime suspect in the cases.

The case took an interesting turn at the end of January. A citizen called to report a theft. The odd thing was this theft was at the opposite end of Kingston. Even though it was not near the original crimes, the deputies found that the M.O. was still the same. The items taken from the barn were found stacked against a nearby fence. The suspect was back to using a wheelbarrow to haul the items off.

This is where the story gets interesting. Just a day after the original theft was reported, Deputy Kristen Floyd was dispatched to a location in the north end of Kingston. They had found a black box placed near the fence on the rear side of the property. While the owner was showing Floyd the surveillance footage of the suspect leaving the black box, they noticed things looked off – the suspect was walking toward the items, not away from. That was when they realized they were watching the live footage. This meant the suspect had returned to take the item he was trying to steal.

The next day, Deputy Latasha Broadhead was patrolling and happened across Hendrix. She offered him a ride, and he accepted. She then explained that for his and her safety, she needed to pat him down. He consented. That is when she found two faucet handles in his pockets.

The discovery was the missing link to the investigation that the Sheriff’s Department needed – they were items stolen from one of the reported thefts. During the investigation, officers found that Hendrix was taking the stolen items and hiding them at a business that paid the suspect to do odd jobs.

Hendrix is currently facing Concealing Stolen Property and Receiving Stolen Property charges. On an unrelated note, Hendrix is also currently facing charges for Peeping Tom.