$200K in Nike merch stolen; unrelated search warrant results in suspect’s arrest
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - One man has been arrested and charged after $200,000 in merchandise was stolen from the Nike Employee Store in North Memphis on Thursday.
More suspects remain at large.
According to the Memphis Police Department, when officers arrived in response to the store’s burglary alarm early Thursday morning, they reportedly witnessed four sedans and one pickup truck leave the scene with their lights off.
Officers then found the back gate to the Nike Store open and the chain cut.
Officers also saw boxes thrown around the parking lot and a tractor-trailer with its bay door open. Employees were called to the scene and determined $200,000 worth of Nike merchandise was missing.
Meanwhile, Shelby County deputies were executing an unrelated search warrant at a home in Sherwood Forest for 25-year-old Melvin Lee Rimmer on drug charges, which resulted in the recovery of drugs, weapons, and several boxes of brand-new Nike shoes and clothes with the tags still on them.
SCSO arrested Rimmer along with 24-year-old Matthew Sims and 25-year-old Steven Busby on the scene. Deputies also recovered a stolen Dodge pickup truck. Busby allegedly had the truck’s key fob in his possession when he was arrested.
Authorities determined the merch that was recovered from the house was the same that was stolen from the Nike Employee Store earlier that morning.
Memphis police interviewed Busby on the scene and determined he was involved in the theft.
Police say $9,142.22 in inventory was recovered.
Busby is charged with property theft $2,500-$10,000, motor vehicle burglary, aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance, and eight counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun.
Court records show Busby was convicted in 2019 for aggravated assault, and had an active warrant out of Shelby County for aggravated assault.
Rimmer is charged with three counts of possession of a firearm with the intent to commit a dangerous felony, unlawful possession of a weapon, two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sims is charged with possession of a firearm with the intent to commit a dangerous felony, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, and four counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
All three are due in court Monday.
There’s no bond information at this time.
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