UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION:

On June 9, 2026, at approximately 2:39 AM, Patrol Officer Braxdon King of the Crossville Police Department initiated a traffic stop on a U-Haul truck in a Walgreens parking lot after observing it leave the Rural King parking lot with an inoperable driver’s-side brake light. The vehicle matched the description of a BOLO from a recent theft at the Obed Plaza Walmart, where 31-year-old Dakota Dalton Whittington had allegedly been caught on security footage concealing a laptop inside a stolen backpack—together valued at $1,177—before exiting the store. During the traffic stop, Whittington consented to a vehicle search, which uncovered the stolen Walmart merchandise alongside several metal shelving grates and support beams. Whittington was initially taken into custody for the Walmart theft and for driving on a suspended or revoked license.

Later that evening, Officer King contacted Rural King management, who discovered upon investigation that metal shelving units had indeed been stolen from the back of their building. At 8:38 PM, police made contact with Whittington at his residence, where he was re-read his Miranda rights and admitted to taking the shelving units, stating he believed they were free because of their location behind the store. Whittington further confessed to transporting the stolen shelving to CMC Recycling in Rockwood, Tennessee. Because Rural King wished to pursue charges for the $270 worth of stolen property, Whittington was arrested and booked into the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office jail with a bond set at $16,000 and restitution required.

This series of events adds to a substantial list of prior criminal charges for Whittington originating from March 2026. A Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office investigation previously linked him to a March 5 burglary at Advanced Storage on Highway 70 East, where he broke into multiple storage units and sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods to local pawn shops. Whittington confessed to those break-ins—which included $16,320 in firearms accessories and tools, $6,075 in archery and fishing gear, and $3,049 in electronics—resulting in three counts of burglary and three counts of theft. Furthermore, Whittington faces a separate retail theft charge for stealing a $329 DeWalt drill kit from Lowe’s, alongside a simple possession charge stemming from a March 18 traffic stop where he claimed ownership of a glass pipe and 3.46 grams of methamphetamine.