KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
by
Alisha Allgood is a wife and mother of two little boys, ages 2 and a half and 8 months.
Last summer, the 27 year old tells me that her young family moves into their brand new home.
It wasn’t long after that they knew they had a problem.
“Starting in September 2007, we had the sheriff’s office knock on doors several times leaving these notes on the door.”
She shows me the official documents with Gene Bollinger: Robertson County Sheriff’s name emboldened across the top.
I will come to learn that these are civil warrants, and the deputies are looking for Jonathan Watts, a man who once lived at the address, before the Allgood’s purchased it.
“I come home to these,” Allgood says holding up the warrants. She reads it. “While you were out we called on your for a civil process regarding Jonathan Watts.”
“Jonathan Watts? Who is that?,” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know Jonathan Watts?”
“I have no clue.”
“You are not harboring Jonathan watts?”
“Absolutely not.”
“So he’s not your buddy, not your kid.”
“No way.”
“So you don’t know him?”
“I have no clue who he is.”
“So did you call this number and say I don’t know Jonathan Watts?”
“Absolutely. Absolutely. We contact this number and they basically say they don’t know what to do; that they will let someone know. I have called Duane Holt in their office. It stopped for a few weeks but then it started coming back.”
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“By their own admission they have been to your home, seven or eight times. Have you ever been home when they come?”
“My husband was home last week2 times when they come by. They asked if Jonathan Watts lives at our house and we said no. They asked again does he live there? And we said no. They are almost implying we were harboring him or hiding him.”
“What have you found out about Mr. Jonathan watts who use to live in your house? i found out that he is wanted for dui arrests and not showing up for court dates.”
“I have found out that the sheriff’s department is looking for him on civil papers and he owes some money and they are serving him to say he owes some money.”
Allgood wants to know what kind of man the sheriff’s are looking for. She calls the Robertson County probation department and finds out that Jonathan Watts got a misdemeanor DUI and he was sentenced to probation by the court.
“I contacted the probation officer the other day, and they say they now know where he is, but it is not officially documented on paperwork. So they still have to come out to his home.”
I shake my head. “So let me get this straight: the Robertson County Probation department knows where Mr. Watts lives, but the sheriff’s keep knocking on your door anyway?”
“Yes, It’s crazy.”
What do your neighbors think with the sheriff at your house. You must be a bad lady, right?”
Allgood laughs a nervous laugh. I have touched a nerve.
“Yes. Yes that is a concern. What do my neighbors think of me. I know no one. They know the situation. They know they are looking for a prior owner. That new couple they are bad news. That is what they must be thinking.”
I go to the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office for answers.
I talk with a long time grizzled law man named P.R. West, Captain over the warrant’s division.
I ask this no nonsense deputy what the P.R. stands for. He won’t tell me.
He begins telling me about civil warrants, Mrs. Allgood and what he can about Jonathan Watts.
“We get 1200 warrants per month that we have to serve. Civil papers. Criminal warrants. The Difference between these and arrest warrants, is with criminal warrants we put a guy in jail. Civil warrants have different days they must be served; usually 30 day service. After 30 days it is returned to the court. All info given to us addresses, comes from courts, and whoever gets the warrant.
He tells me that he has one full time deputy to handle these 1200 warrants a month, though he admits that all deputies can attempt to serve them on patrol.
Captain West tells me the warrant for Mr. Watts appears to be from a bank for money he owes.
He shows me that it is an account for $2,500.
Captain West tells me that the problem with this case is that the only address they have for Jonathan Watts is the address for the Allgood home.
He shows me the back of the warrant that looks like it has been lining the bottom of a bird cage. There is scribble all over it and dates and notations. Capt. West tells me that each time a deputy attempts to serve the warrant he notates what happened so the next deputy doesn’t make the same mistake.
So far I would say this antiquated system needs some tweaking.
“We do this for two reasons. Let’s say for the 3rd time and officer sees it is no longer valid address, that will keep this guy from going out,” West says.
I ask about the last visit to the house on April 9th.
“In this case we got no info till the 9TH OF APRIL that this was an invalid address!!.”
I quietly roll my eyes.
No information this was an invalid address?
Not according to the Allgood family, who claims nobody is willing to listen.
“This lady says she has told the Sheriff’s department over and over again that he doesn’t live here, still you guys come. What’s going on? Either she has not told them or you are not listening to her,” I say.
West runs through his records shuffling papers.
“Well I have no records on this warrant, that she has called to change anything till this April 9th thing it says the parents called to advise he no longer lives here. Then on 4/10/08 we (deputies) went to the post office to check the address and they advised the officer that Watts no longer lived there so we ceased all service to that resident at that time.”
“She says on the 12th, Saturday, two days after your last entry on that warrant, Her husband Physically spoke to your deputies about this issue. Is there any notation from Saturday April 12th? She says her husband talked to deputies. He reportedly said look. We don’t know this guy. And the insinuation was maybe you are harboring this guy. Do your records show that anywhere?”
More shuffling of papers.
“No I don’t have anything on April 12th. Well then we have a bit of a mystery,” I say.
“I understand why she is upset,” Captain tells me. “But i don’t understand why people judge an officer that every time he knocks on the door that he is going to arrest someone. you know the function of the S.O. It is a constitutional office and the primary duty is to serve papers and serve the court. And run the court. We have five courts in this county now. ”
“I don’t know Captain, all I know is she says she has physically come down here to talk to people to no avail. The system seems broken.”
The captain smiles like an old fox.
“Well I am here every day till 2pm. Five days a week. Nobody called me. I will pull the warrant if they did, just like when you called.”
Then with emphasis he adds:
“We are not harassing anyone. we are trying to serve a warrant.”
I make the Captain promise that there will be no more erroneous knocks on the door at the Allgood house.
In a subsequent phone call, he assures me that he has red flagged this address and made sure the court is aware.
I thought when I read this that you were reporting my story. My husband and
I bought a house in Springfield 2 years ago and we had this same exact
problem. It took us 1-1/2 years to get it straight. They came to our door
about every other day - morning - noon and night. They made their “notes”
but that didn’t matter - they left notes and came knocking as late as 9:30
at night. We even went so far as to get the new address of the man they
were looking for and gave that to them - over and over. We called them and
gave them the new address. They still kept showing up. We finally got a
deputy that actually cared and - lost count on how many times - again we
gave him the new address and he followed up and went there and eventually
caught the man. This is a very embarressing situation when you are the
“new” neighbor in the neighborhood!!
The deputies are just doing as they are instructed to do.
Do you realize how many times the deputies go to a house and are told that person does not live at that address and in fact the person is hiding on the other side of the door? So next time a deputy knocks on your door looking for some one keep this in mind and instead of being embarrassed by speaking to him or her you should thank them for doing a job that no one else has the nerve to do or is willing to do for the money and harassment they put up with.
People need to keep in mind these deputies are doing their job and can only take some people for their word. Each and every day they put their lives on the line to goto some of these doors trying to find people who are running from the law. If this lady would have went thru the chain of command and even went straight to the sheriff then I am sure this would have been resolved, but it sounds like to me she wanted to complain every time they came to the door and i believe she wanted some tv time.
These deputies are doing a job that most people would not do.
Serving warrants and civil papers is almost as dangerous as
a road side bomb in Iraq, they never know when knocking on a door if the person on the other side is going to try to run, fight, or shot them. And if the only thing you have to worry about is what your neighbors think try putting your self in the deputies shoes and may be if you speak with your neighbors once in a while they wouldn’t think you’re a criminal. So the next time a deputy gets a drunk driver off the road before he kills someone or catches the burglar that broke into your house think about the woman who complained about a deputy knocking on her door and worrying about what her neighbors think.
I am the lady in this video.I started immediately going through the chain of command starting with the probation officer and went through it for 10 months. I am very thankful that the police are doing their job. I understand that they can not take my word but after several letters and contacts to the police that still continue to show up. I have even helped them in giving them the only info i knew including his parents contact info. When I gave them the info the probation officer said “oh we dont need their number, we know where he lives.” Andy did a great job in relaying our story but he left out the
part about them even knowing where he lives AND still continuing to show up at our door. IT IS HARRASEMENT!! Ok 1,2,3,4, knocks at or door ok…they are doing their job-but
over 25 times…that is harrasment!! So for all those people
stating that they are just doing their job–don’t speak unless you have walked in my shoes with 2 very small children who do not need to be disturbed by lazy deputies who can not read notes and do some research!!!
Ok…maybe I shouldn’t have used the term “lazy”. They are not lazy, I appreciate what they do. I just wish someone would have done some research maybe not right away but soon after we went through all the trouble we did. We showed them records from where we purchased our home. We are a new couple buying our first home with 2 small children..why would we harbor a criminal? The police even have that they came by the house a few weeks ago and talked to his parents. THATS IMPOSSIBLE!!! they moved away almost 1 year ago. They should have made sure of who they were talking to? Documentation, communication, and research are the key to keeping us safe!! I have said what I have needed to say.
knowing the situation in this case helps one understand better than those who are judging from an outsiders view.the guys probation officer knows where he lives but yet the police keep harrassing alisha and her family. its enough to have the police constantly showing up at your house all the time, and yes , maybe they thought she and her husband were lying about the guy not being there,but,they could have talked to his probation officer and the whole situation could have been avoided. it looks to me as if some common sense had been used by the police department they would have the guy by now.
this is my opinion and we all know what they say about opinions. everybody has one.
The Allgood’s took their closing papers from their home to the Robertson County Sheriff’s dept. The former owners last name “Watts”. The Allgood’s provided the Robertson County Sheriff’s dept with J.W.’s parents phone number only to be told they already know where his parents live. Why are they not attempting to find him at his parents Robertson County home? Because J.W.continues to provide his former address as his current address every time he gets into trouble. He doesn’t want to be found. It’s not rocket science. The issue is not the Sheriff’s deputies doing their sworn job. We can all agree we appreciate the difficult work they do. The issue is continually harassing a young couple with repeated, intrusive visits that adversely affect their privacy while knowing full well that he indeed does not live there but continually return only because J.W. continues to provide his former address. I can put two and two together obviously the Robertson County Sheriff’s dept cannot.
People must realize more than one deputy works at the sheriffs office, they have more than one shift and if the person they are looking for has more than one summons or warrant the deputies will have to go to the address listed on the warrant so that he or she can honestly sign his or her name to it saying that he or she checked that location.
People must also realize the probation officer doesn’t work at the sheriff’s office and the deputies can’t check with the probation office on every warrant they get. I have dealt with the sheriff’s office several times and in my opinion they have always done a great job. I for one appreciate the great job they do.
There is but one Sheriff’s Deputy in Robertson County who serves warrants. We’re not talking a major metropolitan area. They have a grand total of 15 deputy’s.
Do you know that the sheriffs office has more work to do than serve warrants. In addition to serving warrants the sheriff’s deputies work traffic, take care of the courts and the jail.
When some one needs to be transported for one detention facility to another who do you think drives them? When a person needs to go from the local hospital to a mental facility how do you think they get there? On top of all this work the deputies also have to answer calls. These calls can be any thing from a neighbor’s dog to domestic violence, burglary, child abuse, and even though I don’t live in Robertson county I’m sure these deputies are any thing but lazy. And if the Joanna is correct in the number of deputies that work at the Robertson county sheriffs office they are doing one outstanding job. By the way have you ever heard any one say any thing about the good things they do? No you only hear about the things they might do wrong. Keep up the good work.
THESE GUYS ARE DOING A JOB THAT 9 OUT OF 10 OF US CANT DO AND THIS LADY IS UPSET BECAUSE THEY KNOCKED ON HER DOOR A COUPLE OF TIMES.SHE’S WORRIED ABOUT WHAT HE NEIGHBORS THINK!(THAT IS WHATS REALLY MESSED UP)SOUNDS LIKE SOMEBODY HAS GOT A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. THERE THE ONES PROTECTING HER AND HER KIDS AND SHE CRITICIZING THEM ABOUT DOING THEIR JOB. WHAT’S NEXT IS SHE GOING TO BURN MONEY IF IT FALLS OUT OF HER PURSE. IM A WIFE OF A POLICE OFFICER AND WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THIS I COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT I WAS HEARING. THERE IS MORE PROBLEMS IN THIS WORLD THAN A KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR BY SOMEONE DOING THERE JOB, AND DOING THERE JOB KNOWING THEY COULD BE KILLED AT ANY TIME FOR!!! JUST DOING THERE JOB! SOMEBODY HAS TO DO IT?
i would like to finally say that the deputies are just doing they’re job. yes, the allgood family had proof that deputies have been trying to serve warrants at their house. but did you ask the sheriff’s office or the deputies if they have recieved information from the allgoods about the whereabouts of mr. watts……. i bet not. i believe that “messed up” is the only job that involves investigating that andy cordan could perform. if he truely wanted to investigate problems within a community, he would be a real law enforcement officer and he would see that this case “IS NOT MESSED UP !!!!!”
I’m glad there are people who have sense in the area! These men and women are hard working people who are just trying to do their jobs. They too have small children, wives, parents, etc. who don’t know if they are coming home that night. Joanna is horribly wrong. There is not “but one deputy” who works warrants. There IS one who is in charge of the division, but all of the “road officers” have a duty to serve warrants. This includes all first, second, AND third shift deputies. With an average of 6 to 8 deputies per shift- you do the math. The Sheriff’s office is responsible for serving ALL warrants COUNTY WIDE, and the deputies have a civil liability to at least attempt to serve these warrants, it is their #1 duty. By Tennessee state law, they are to attempt service at the given location by the courts, until another address can be validated, and if Mrs. Allgood did this, then the responsibility falls to Mr. Watts, and his probation officer, not the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office. FYI- harassment is defined by T.C.A. to be: communication over a phone, or through the internet. Not in person! If you paid for warrant service through the courts, you would want quality service performed, as it costs over $100 dollars for civil service. It’s sad that all it takes is a phone call to Andy to attempt to publicly humiliate these hard working individuals, who I am proud to say protect and serve me and my family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for no more respect or pay than they get.
Please don’t feed us that line of cr@p about the officers “just doing their jobs”, because we’re not buying it. Those officers were given indisputable proof that the bad guy doesn’t live there, and they failed to provide that information to their superiors. That’s bad work on the part of the officers.
I have huge respect for our police department, and I’ll support them whenever they deserve it. When something is going wrong, it’s up to REAL CITIZENS to point it out.
Nothing else matters.
“They’re doing what they’re instructed to do”.
In that case it’s the fault of the higher-ups that this harassment — intentional or not — has continued this long.
Don’t defend people who aren’t doing their jobs. It makes you look stupid.