Jones

James Jones, 60, 2815 Bay Wood in Memphis, was booked into the Dyer County Jail on a $500 bond.

Teresa Shell, a legal secretary in attorney Ralph Lawson's 306 S. Church Ave. law office, said she and Lawson were talking about a case in the office's back room at about 1:45 p.m. when she heard the door open, then close a few seconds later.

"I walked up to see who was there," said Shell. "And I see this man looking at me as he walked outside in front of the window. His eyes got real big when he saw me looking at him."

Shell said she glanced down to her desk to see the drawer her purse was in had been opened, and the wallet missing from the opened purse.

"I yelled, 'Hey! Stop!'" she said.

Then the pursuit started.

Shell said she bolted out of the office hot on Jones's trail and spotted him running south across McGaughey Street.

"When he rounded the corner at the [First Baptist] church [at Church and Masonic streets], I could see he tossed the wallet into the bush, because the bush was still moving," said Shell.

As Shell rounded the corner, she grabbed the wallet (which had landed atop the bush), and with one hand started to check what items were missing. A $20 bill was gone. In the other hand, she said she was trying to dial 911 with her cell phone, "but the afternoon sun was shining in the cell phone, and I couldn't see it clearly."

As the chase continued a half-block east, Jones cut across the parking lot between First Citizens National Bank's operations center and the main bank, then disappeared into the alley onto West Court Street.

Shell said as she was running into the bank lot trying to call police, FCNB associate David Thurman was walking across the parking lot.

"I yelled, 'David, call 911!" said Shell. "He did, and gave them where he was running, in what direction."

Unknown to Shell or Thurman, the driver and passenger of a white van that was moving south on Church Avenue in front of the Jere Cooper Federal Building saw Jones exit Lawson's office and Shell take off after him.

"They followed him as he was running," said Shell. "They followed him to the courthouse and saw where he was going."

According to the Dyersburg Police report, officers arrived on Court Square and were informed by several people that Jones had run into the courthouse. Officers walked into the courthouse and followed Jones into the basement of the building. Jones was stopped as he was getting on the elevator.

Jones was breathing heavily and having trouble catching his breath, the report said.

He was arrested and taken to the FCNB parking lot, where Shell and Thurman were still standing. Shell identified Jones as the man who stole her wallet.

Jones, 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, informed jailers he is a heroin addict and needed to be hospitalized.

Shell said as she was running after Jones, she was thinking "of all the trouble it would be to have to cancel credit cards, get a new driver's license, hunting license, Social Security card, all that."

Shell said she is "almost" a black belt in the martial art of Tae Kwon Doe.

"I don't know what I would have done had I caught him," she said. "I know a little bit of self-defense."

Jones is scheduled to appear in city court at 9 a.m. May 2.