Chattanooga Pulse

• Police officers were presented with an unusual situation when a nearly naked man was found hiding in the closet of a church daycare center last month.  The man, wearing only an unbuttoned shirt, was originally issued a citation and sent home.  However, when General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon had the case come before him last week, he hit the roof and bound a charge of burglary over to the grand jury, in spite of the public defender’s office pointing out that the man had not been found with any stolen items. Moon found it unbelievable that the man was just given a citation and said the incident needs much further investigation into how such cases should be handled in the future.

• The Chattanooga Police Department Special Investigations Unit, commonly known as the Vice Squad, spent a busy evening last week.  They ran a successful street prostitution sting in the Highland Park, East Lake and Rossville Boulevard areas.  Undercover officers posed as “johns” and ended up arresting eight women on prostitution charges.  In addition to the solicitation charges, several of the suspects face charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, possession of drug paraphernalia, public intoxication and obstruction of a roadway.

• A popular national fast-food chain likes to tell their customers that they can “have it their way”.  However, that slogan is not meant for the employees, especially when it comes to the cash register.  Yet a shift manager of a fast-food establishment on Hixson Pike was caught by senior manager having her way with the till, to the tune of more than $1,400.  She was recorded on video taking money out of the register and putting it into her pocket.  Authorities were notified and she was arrested and charged with theft of more than $1,000 for her part in “holding the lettuce”.

• A lot of people look for love in the Internet, or at least the physical aspect of love.  However, police say that using a bit of common sense goes a long way towards keeping things from getting out of hand.  Which is why they were not all that sympathetic to a woman who called police to complain about a man who was e-mailing her and demanding sex.  It turned out that she had been sending the man photos and videos of herself naked, and then felt uncomfortable with his responses.  Officers told her to use a bit more discretion in the future in her search for love and companionship on the Information Superhighway.