Here’s a tip to all the bad guys out there: if you go to court, make sure you’re not wanted by the law on felony charges.
That’s one result from tips to CrimeStoppers recently, including two in which fugitives were changed with multiple dangerous felony counts.
The tips were among 18 approved for payment to individuals at the recent meeting of the CrimeStoppers Awards Committee. Cash awards were paid a few days later. The number tips approved for the month of August were above the number of successful tips for the previous month, and resulted in more arrests.
The first case began July 17, 2020 when a man kicked in the front door of an apartment where several friends had gathered. As the friends ran to the rear of the residence, the intruder fired multiple shots.
Police developed Tavion Whitfield, a man with previous felony warrants, as the suspect. A warrant was issued for his arrest on five counts of attempted first degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
A citizen contacted the CrimeStoppers tips line on August 4 and gave information on fugitive Whitfield’s location. Officers went to room 225 of the American Best Value Inn on American Way and made the arrest.
Bond: None. Paid to the tipster: $600.
Another citizen provided the location of Torrence Townsend on August 12, 2020. He had been indicted 10 days previously on multiple counts of attempted first and second degree murder and employing a firearm in a felony.
In this case, the tipster said Townsend could be found at that moment in Criminal Court Division 2 at 201 Poplar Avenue — the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center.
Sure enough, that’s where the Shelby County Sheriff’s officers found him. He was handcuffed and taken for processing.
Bond: $500,000. Paid to the tipster: $500.
