Police make arrest in church van theft that was used in other robberies

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Police make an arrest in a series of thefts in both Chattanooga and Cleveland involving a church van and a lot of cigarettes.

It started last Wednesday in Chattanooga, when someone stole the van from the Second Missionary Baptist Church.

Then investigators in Cleveland and Bradley County spotted the van being used in a pair of convenience store robberies.

In both cases, the thief used the van to haul off cartons of cigarettes taken from the Fuel Mart on South Lee Highway and the Cleveland Country Mart on Waterlevel Highway.

Bradley investigators got a picture of the man and the van and asked people to identify him.

But 58 year old tom Perry Bell was arrested back in Chattanooga.

A CPD officer spotted the van pulling out of a business on Highway 58 and made the arrest.

Bell faces charges of Burglary and Theft over $1,000 in just Bradley County.

Tom Perry Bell