Williamsburg police recover stolen vehicle

Williamsburg police recently recovered a stolen vehicle and arrested a Tennessee man, who allegedly had been driving it.

Daniel Hatfield is charged with receiving stolen property.

Daniel Hatfield, 32, of Newcomb, pleaded not guilty Thursday during his arraignment Thursday in Whitley District Court to charges of receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Williamsburg Police Officer Elijah Hunter arrested Hatfield about 5:03 p.m. on May 24 at Walmart in Williamsburg.

Hunter received a complaint from Whitley County E-911 that a 1992 blue Chevy car was at the Williamsburg Walmart and had been reported stolen out of Campbell County, Tennessee.

An initial check of the registration turned up no information on the vehicle, but a second check of the vehicle through another system showed that it had been reported stolen by Campbell County authorities, according to Hatfield’s arrest citation.

Hunter then had a Walmart loss prevention officer review security camera footage to try and identify the driver.

Loss prevention followed Hatfield on video from the vehicle to the automotive aisle where police located him, Hunter wrote on the arrest citation.

After taking Hatfield into custody, Hunter’s police K-9, Vicko, did a drug sniff of the vehicle and alerted police that drugs were possibly in the vehicle, according to the arrest citation.

Police then searched the vehicle and discovered a hypodermic needle inside a bag in a larger plastic box in the vehicle, the citation stated.

Hatfield was lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.

During a court appearance Monday morning, Hatfield waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his case was forwarded to the Whitley County Grand Jury for consideration.

In exchange for waiving the preliminary hearing, Hatfield’s bond was lowered from a $5,000 fully secured bond to a $10,000 third-party surety bond.

A $5,000 fully secured bond means that someone has to put up $5,000 cash, $10,000 worth of property or a combination of the two in order to be released from custody.

A third-party surety bond means that someone signs paperwork agreeing to pay $10,000 to the court system if the person charged doesn’t appear for court.

He was released on bond late Monday afternoon.

Williamsburg Police Officer Greg Rhoades assisted with the investigation.