Authorities say a Stoney Creek woman answered a knock at her door Thursday only to be faced with a masked man holding a gun.
But about an hour later, an Elizabethton man was in custody, charged with aggravated robbery in that incident and facing additional charges of aggravated burglary and theft stemming from other incidents in the Stoney Creek community.
Christopher Price, of 117 Estal Drive, was arrested Thursday afternoon by officers of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department.
According to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded to a home on Peters Hollow Road shortly before noon on Thursday after a report of a robbery. When they arrived, deputies talked with a woman who said she heard a knock on her door, and when she answered, a man wearing a ski mask pointed a pistol at her and forced his way into the home.
The woman told deputies the man demanded that she give him prescription medication, jewelry and cash. She said the man followed her through the house taking items, but she was able to escape and make it to a neighbor’s home to call 911.
Witnesses on the scene told police the man had fled the scene toward Highway 91, and deputies were able to enlist the assistance of a K-9 officer with the U.S. Forest Service. The K-9 led officers from the residence on Peters Hollow Road to a residence at 117 Estal Drive. At the home on Estal Drive, deputies spoke with Christopher Price, who they said was identified by the woman through voice recognition as being the individual who had robbed her inside her home.
The statement from the Sheriff’s Department said deputies obtained a search warrant for Price’s residence.
According to the statement, “Officers recovered numerous items taken from the residence on Peters Hollow, along with other items linking Price to several other burglaries which have occurred in the Stoney Creek community over the past several days.”
The statement also said that “Items seized from the residence included narcotics, a large flat screen television, jewelry, flatware, currency, and firearms.”
Price was arrested at the scene and transported to the Carter County Detention Center.
Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford praised the work of deputies in apprehending the subject.
“They did an excellent job,” he said. “They had the suspect in custody in about an hour.”