Crossville police officers arrested a local man on September 10, 2026, following a porch theft on Cook Road and a subsequent manhunt through local wooded areas aided by a K-9 unit.

Authorities were dispatched to Cook Road after a homeowner reported a man and a woman stealing a package from her front porch. The package contained two pairs of TikTok shoes valued at $80. Responding officers spotted a woman matching the suspect’s description fleeing toward nearby woods.

While officers tracked the woman, a K-9 unit led by Lieutenant Jonathan O’Neal followed a trail that included a discarded bag of snacks and led toward Short Road, where the woman was found hiding under a back porch. She told police that her companion, Charles Eric Conatser, had suddenly grabbed the package without warning. She explained that a neighbor confronted them, prompting Conatser to drop the package before both suspects fled.

Officers then shifted their focus to tracking Conatser, who had run into the woods behind apartments on Cook Road. Although the K-9 track was eventually called off near the Crossville First Freewill Baptist Church due to exhaustion, other officers spotted Conatser emerging from the woods nearby and detained him.

After being read his Miranda rights, Conatser confessed to taking the package with the intent to keep it, but admitted he returned it after being intercepted by the alert neighbor. He was taken into custody, transported to the Justice Center, and served with a Theft of Property warrant. Security footage from the victim’s home was secured as evidence, and the case has been officially cleared.