Robertson County, TN (August 28th, 2019) An investigation by the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office has led to warrants being issued on suspect, Christopher Scott Thomas (DOB 11/15/1971), for the theft of chainsaws using SmartWater CSI technology.
On July 9th, 2019, investigators received a report of two stolen chainsaws. The owner advised that the chainsaws were marked with SmartWater CSI. Investigators were able to locate two chainsaws that had been pawned in Clarksville, TN by Christopher Thomas that matched the description of the stolen chainsaws. A sample of the SmartWater CSI was collected from the chainsaws and sent to the SmartWater CSI forensic lab for analysis. The results of the analytics produced a positive match between the SmartWater collected off the stolen chainsaws to the registered owner. A warrant for theft under $1,000, and a warrant for theft over $1,000 has been issued for Christopher Thomas of Adams, TN who is currently incarcerated in another County on separate charges.
In November 2017, the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office launched a new program called Farm Watch in order to deter crimes against agriculture. The Farm Watch program offers SmartWater CSI to the agricultural community free of charge. Participants in the program are given a bottle of SmartWater CSI that contains a chemically unique forensic code that is registered to them specifically. Anything they mark with the SmartWater CSI can be traced back to the owner.
“I was excited to be the first agency in Tennessee to utilize SmartWater CSI technology when we launched Farm Watch back in 2017. I am very excited to see how this case was solved using this new forensic technology. Our use of SmartWater CSI, and the continued education of its use to all inmates booked into the Robertson County Detention Facility has had a positive impact in reducing property crimes across our County. We encourage all our agriculture producers to join this program, because it does in fact work as both a deterrent and reuniting victims with their stolen property,” stated Sheriff Michael Van Dyke.
If you would like more information about Farm Watch, or how to get involved, please contact the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office at (615)-384-7971, or visit our website at www.robertsonsheriff.com.