by Chris Conte
MT. JULIET, Tenn. - A 20-year-old from Mt. Pleasant was arrested on Tuesday after he walked into the Mt. Juliet Police Department and told officials he stole a car.
"He had that look on his face like, 'Mom and dad told me to come down here and confess,' maybe they won't be so hard on me," recalled Tina Guinan who was working the front desk at city hall Tuesday morning.
But 21 years in city government could not prepare Tina for what she was about to hear.
"He comes up to my window and he says, 'I stole a car,' and I looked at him and he says, 'and I feel really bad about it,"' Tina adds.
Like any good government worker, she then told him to go to another window.
"I said ok, 'what' you'll need to do is go back out these doors, down the sidewalk, down to the next set of double doors and talk to the police department,"' she explained.
The man, who police identified as Austin Sparks of Mt. Pleasant, did exactly what Tina told him.
"I had to believe him, he said he stole a vehicle. I don't think somebody would walk into a police department and make up a story," said Kinnie Long who sits at the front desk of the Mt. Juliet Police Department.
As it turns out, Austin didn't just admit to the crime he had committed but he also drove the Ford F-250 to the police department and parked it outside.
"It saved a lot of resources, it saved a lot of time for the victims, they'll get their stuff back," explained Sgt. Tyler Chandler about Austin's change of heart.
"I can't remember anytime that that has happened," Sgt. Chandler added.
As for where this beat up old F-250 came from it turns out Sparks took it from a construction company in Columbia. He made it about 60 miles before his conscience apparently got the better of him.
Over the phone Tuesday, the truck's owner Richard Thompson said, "We could've made arrangements to gotten him to his destination if he'd just asked us."
The truck wasn't damaged and Richard said he would pick it up sometime Tuesday night.
