Nashville man with 44 warrants arrested on more charges in Chattanooga

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville man who was wanted on 44 warrants related to alleged thefts was taken into custody in a city over 100 miles away.

West Precinct detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department had been searching for 49-year-old Tarice Lamont Smith since Thursday, March 21, when they said he was identified in multiple thefts at various businesses.

According to police, Smith would make his way into non-public areas of businesses, such as employee breakrooms, and steal wallets and credit cards from purses. He would then use those items to go on “shopping sprees,” spending thousands of dollars on merchandise, officials reported.

The charges against him include 18 counts of identity theft, 18 counts of credit card fraud, four counts of burglary and four counts of theft. Authorities said Smith had also just recently been released from jail after being arrested for credit card fraud, burglary and theft earlier in March.

Smith also has a long history of those types of crimes, according to court records. He was previously convicted of several theft and burglary charges between 1992 and 2018.

During their search, police later learned Smith was behind bars, just several miles away. Arrest records show he was taken into custody in Chattanooga on March 18 for another set of charges including criminal conspiracy and criminal impersonation.

Officials said Smith will be returned to Nashville to face his theft-related charges in the near future.

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