Man charged in robbery case arrested while out on bond

Published 5:17 pm Wednesday, February 21, 2018

A Carter County man currently out on bond in connection with an alleged bank robbery attempt now faces a new charge after police say he was found inside a local manufacturing facility without permission.

Officers of the Elizabethton Police Department arrested Alexander Nelson Leroy, 34, of 112 Hickory Hollow, Apt. 1, Elizabethton, early Wednesday morning and charged him with burglary.

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According to court documents, officers responded to the Matheson Property, located at 1999 Stateline Road, in reference to an alarm call.

“The owner of the property, James Matheson, advised (911 dispatchers) that a motion-activated alarm was currently activated in the office,” EPD Cody Mullins said. “Mr. Matheson stated that nobody should be inside the building at this hour.”

Matheson met the officers on the scene and accompanied them through the building.

“Inside the building, officers discovered a male subject looking at a trailer with a flashlight,” Mullins said.

Officers identified the man as Leroy and placed him into custody.

“Mr. Leroy stated that he entered the building through the unlocked office door,” Mullins said. “He stated that he was a former employee of the business, and was only there to ‘kill some time’ and have a look around.”

Mullins charged Leroy with one count of burglary and transported him to the Carter County Detention Center.

Leroy appeared in Carter County General Sessions Court on Wednesday morning. Judge Keith Bowers Jr. appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent Leroy and scheduled him to return to court on Friday morning.

Leroy remains held in the Carter County Detention Center under a $5,000 bond.

According to court documents, prior to his arrest Wednesday morning, Leroy was out of jail and awaiting trial on charges of aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery in connection with the report of an attempted robbery at a city bank in December 2016.

On Dec. 8, 2016, officers of the Elizabethton Police Department responded to the Carter County Bank branch located on Bemberg Road in response to a panic alarm at the bank.

According to court documents, employees at the bank said a man, later identified as Leroy, entered the bank, stood at a workstation area filling out paperwork for several minutes and then approached a teller with a deposit ticket with the amount $500,000 written on it.

The teller told police the man was acting strangely and she observed something in his pocket, which made her fear for her safety.

According to court documents, the teller told officers they again told Leroy they did not have that amount of money at the branch and he then told them to give him “what they had in their drawer.” The employees told Leroy they were unable to access the money and he then left the bank.

Tellers were able to provide officers with a description of the man who had attempted to rob the bank, and a witness was able to describe the vehicle he left in. A short time later, officers located and stopped a vehicle matching the description given by the witness.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Leroy. When officers stopped the SUV Leroy was driving, they located a wig and hat matching the description given by the tellers as well as a Carter County Bank deposit slip with $500,000 written on it.

The case against Leroy was bound over to a Carter County Grand Jury in December 2016 after he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Leroy was released from jail on Dec. 14 after posting a $5,000 bond. In March 2017 the Grand Jury returned an indictment charging him with aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery. He is scheduled to appear in Carter County Criminal Court on March 22 on the robbery case.