by Marcus Washington
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A mid-state great-grandmother stopped a would-be thief in her drive-way with only two rocks and her adrenaline.
She's a 73-year-old great-grandmother of four and says she was not happy when she found out a man she learned to trust, was trying to steal hundreds of dollars in tools, electronics and cash from her Cookeville home.
Saturday when she was in her backyard cleaning out her flower bed, the 73-year-old says one of the workers paving her driveway had returned to finish up the work.
She says the man told her he'd knocked at the door, but got no answer; so he went inside the home.
She says she didn't think much about it then, but it was when the man started working and she was heading back inside the house.
She noticed a bicycle was moved from its normal spot in her garage, and then she notice an electric drill was missing along with a stapler and other items.
"I walked towards his vehicle and he saw me and he was (off to the side)," side the great-grand mother.
She says the man, Willie Nathan Jones, 31, locked the door using his electronic key pad.
She says the man asked what she was doing as she looked in the car. She said she saw something through his tented windows, reached in and pulled back a blanket in the back seat.
There she first saw her tools.
"I told him you got my tools and I want them right now," the woman said.
Jones told her no and then she said, "I just got down here and I got two (rocks) in my hands and I told him, I said, 'open the door." he said no and I said, 'open the door or I am going to bust your windshields out." I didn't know if that would break or not, but I was going to give it a try."
Jones eventually gave her the tools, laptop, car GPS and other items.
She says he told her he was not sure how they got in his car.
The great-grandmother said she told Jones, "'you get in the car, you get your stuff, get off my property and don't you ever come back here again or around me.'"
The 73-year-old says police were not called until she told her grand-daughter what happened.
She later realized while in her home, Jones went through her purse stealing $54.
Putnam County's sheriff says Jones' criminal record goes back to 2001 with 12 arrests including: D-U-I, public intoxication, domestic violence and now theft.
