CHURCH HILL — Two Hawkins County men were charged with felony vandalism and theft Tuesday for allegedly stripping down a 1940s model Ford pickup for the scrap metal.
About 6 p.m. Tuesday, Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Stacy Vaughan was dispatched to a residence on Horton Lane in the New Canton community just west of Church Hill on a complaint of two men attempting to steal an old pickup.
Upon his arrival, Vaughan met the two men parked in a black GMC pickup in the woods at the dead end of Horton Lane.
Both men — identified as Christopher Allan Tester, 19, 214 Hidden Valley Drive, Rogersville, and Scotty Shane Crawford, 20, 872 Light Hollow Road, Rogersville — said they had permission from the property owner to remove scrap metal.
Vaughan questioned the men about the antique pickup that had been parked in a barn on the property, and both men denied knowledge of the truck.
The truck appeared to have been dragged from the barn to a location at the back of the property and was stripped down to the frame.
Vaughan said he located the missing body parts in the bed of the GMC pickup.
The property owner told Vaughan she gave the men permission to take scrap metal from around her rental house, but they didn’t have permission to touch the antique pickup.
Upon speaking to Crawford and Tester again, they allegedly admitted to stripping the metal off the antique truck to sell as scrap.
“They took a chain and pulled it down to a driveway down below the barn,” Vaughan said. “Then they ran the chain through the driver’s side window to the passenger side window, wrapped it around the cab, and ripped the cab off the frame. One of the fenders came off when they dragged it out of the barn, and they told me once they ripped the cab off of it the other fender and the hood came off, and they just went to getting all the metal and parts off of it they could get.”
The exact year and value of the pickup wasn’t known. Vaughan said the owner told him it was a 1940s model Ford. Based on the description of its condition prior to the arrival of Crawford and Tester, Vaughan estimated the antique body parts would be valued at more than $1,000.
Both men were charged with theft over $1,000 and vandalism over $1,000.
“It had been sitting for years, but according to the neighbor who called me, the body of the truck was in fairly decent shape,” Vaughan said. “It definitely needed restoring, and it was in good enough shape for a restoration. Not anymore. These boys were just getting the metal. All that was left intact was the frame, the motor, the seat, the steering wheel and the grille.”
As of Thursday, Crawford remained held in the Hawkins County jail on $5,000 bond, and Tester had been released on $5,000 bond. Both are scheduled for arraignment Oct. 15.