Staff reports
A 20-year-old Nashville man has been charged with a felony and seven misdemeanors after police say he broke into multiple cars and tried to enter one home over the week of Thanksgiving.
On Dec. 2, Isaiah Nathaniel Smith, of South Drive, was charged with attempted residential entry, a Level 6 felony, and seven counts of criminal mischief, all Class B misdemeanors.
Nashville Police Officers Abigail Beaver and William Pruitt responded to a report of vehicles that were broken into on Nov. 27 in the 500 block of Deer Lane. A woman told police she had locked her vehicle the night before, but when she came outside in the morning, it was unlocked and looked as if it had been rummaged through. Another vehicle at the home also had been entered and a package of bubble gum and a notebook were missing.
The next day, on Thanksgiving, Beaver received a call from Nashville Police Chief Ben Seastrom stating homeowners in the 500 block of Park Lane had reported two vehicles had been broken into overnight.
One homeowner reported having video footage of a man, later identified as Smith, trying to get into his home via the keypad on the front door at about 1:15 a.m. that day. The footage showed Smith going through both vehicles at the home, but nothing was stolen from either one, according to the affidavit.
Beaver then received a second call from Seastrom about another vehicle nearby being broken into. The owner said his pickup truck had been left unlocked and the door was left ajar. The owner’s father reported hearing several truck doors opening between 1 and 2 a.m. that day, but did not go out to investigate, the affidavit states. An empty cigarette pack was taken from the truck that had a lighter and a tie-dye fidget spinner inside it, along with $2 in quarters.
While speaking with that vehicle owner, Beaver reported seeing the lights on in a truck at a neighbor’s house. The owner of the truck was out of town. The speaker panel on the driver’s side door was broken and two screws were missing from the speaker, but nothing was reported stolen from that truck. Beaver also reported finding a Stihl knife on the truck’s driver side doorstep. The truck’s owner said that was his knife, but that was not where he left it.
Beaver went to another nearby home on Park Lane, where another vehicle’s passenger door was left ajar and items from the vehicle had been thrown on the ground. Nothing was missing from the vehicle, though, the report said.
Beaver reported recognizing Smith in the video footage. Officers found him staying at a home on South Drive. He was detained and taken to the Brown County jail.
At the jail, Smith confessed to breaking into several cars and going up to the front doors of several homes to see if any doors had been left unlocked. He also told police he had stolen alcohol and drank it, but would not say where he stole the alcohol from, the affidavit states.
He was released to the jail staff to be booked in.
Isaiah Nathaniel Smith is not the Isaiah Smith of about the same age who helped to design the Kids on Wheels skate park.
