MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man is charged after police said he went on a short crime spree, stealing a car, burglarizing a home, and stealing MPD gear from a vehicle.
Christopher Swearengen faces several charges of burglary and theft, according to court records. According to the police affidavit, Swearengen has one leg and uses a wheelchair to get around, which was identified by one of the victims.
It all started on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, when a woman said she returned to her home on South Rembert to find damage to the front and back doors, a broken bathroom window, and a blue wheelchair in her backyard.
According to the police affidavit, the next day on Monday, Jan. 23, the woman said she returned home again to find her home ransacked and a tablet and laptop stolen. She said she looked next door and saw a man sitting in the blue wheelchair that had been in her backyard the day before, next to a blue Buick Century. According to the report, the woman saw one of her pillows in the car, and confronted the man, and after arguing, he got in the car and drove away. The affidavit said the woman noted the man had only one leg.
MPD said in the affidavit another man had reported his blue 1994 Buick Century stolen from the parking garage at the Peabody Medical Building on Eastmoreland earlier that day.
Later that Monday, MPD responded to a theft from a car, where the victim told police several items of his Memphis Police Department clothing and equipment had been stolen from his vehicle.
According to the affidavit, the next day Memphis Police spotted the stolen Buick Century and detained the driver, who matched the description of the man from the home burglary. Investigators said they found the stolen pillow, laptop, and tablet in the car, along with the MPD items taken in the car break-in.
MPD said in the report Swearengen invoked his Miranda rights and did not talk during questioning. He is currently in jail on $16,000 bond.
