Deputies Find Guns at Day Care Center
The following is a news release issued by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office: Sheriff's Deputies say a Northaven day care center has been a hideaway for stolen guns. Three teenagers who live at the home have been charged.
Deputies in the Sheriff’s Patrol Crime Response Unit (PCRU) raided “Jessie’s Child Enrichment Child Care” at 5235 Braden about 10:30 a.m. today. The PCRU bureau targets neighborhoods that have experienced a rise in criminal activity.
PCRU Deputies received a tip that guns were stored at the day care center which is also a residence. A 32 caliber revolver was found hidden under a mattress in a front bedroom. A 22 caliber revolver and a 380 automatic pistol were in a bedroom closet. Serial numbers had been filed off the guns. More than 500 rounds of ammunition were also found in a bedroom.
A fourth gun, a 45 caliber pistol, was in the glove box of a vehicle parked in front of the day care center. Deputies traced that gun to a home burglary on December 17, 2008, in the 2500 block of Bay Pointe Circle in Raleigh.
Deputies also recovered several laptop computers, digital cameras and camcorders inside the day care center. Investigators will be checking to see if they are stolen.
The woman who owns the day care center has not been charged. She told Deputies the center is licensed by the State of Tennessee.
Cortez Hodge, 19, faces four charges:
- 2 counts of Unlawful Carrying or Possession of a Weapon
- Alteration of Serial Numbers
- Theft of Property over $500
Two other young men who live at the house, a 15 year-old and a 16 year-old, were taken to Memphis Juvenile Court.
Deputies say this is the third time the 16 year-old has been arrested for illegally possessing a firearm.
Pictures from today’s raid and Cortez Hodge’s mug shot are being sent in separate files.
