Around 1:00 o'clock early Friday morning, a Morton Road couple was awakened by their front door being kicked-in. Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold told WGNS News . . .
As mentioned, the two convicts accused of assaulting a couple during a home invasion were apprehended by a Murfreesboro Police K-9 team and sheriff’s deputies early Friday on Morton Road, just off Barfield Road.
Victim Tina Binford was held down with one suspect putting his knee on her back and both suspects assaulted her husband, Edward, while they took $300 from his wallet, Deputy Mark Logsdon reported. The Binfords were treated for their injuries by Emergency Medical Center paramedics. Their home is located off Barfield-Crescent Road.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Owens reported suspects James Butner Jr. (left photo) and Darrell Lambert (right photo) were treated for dog bites. Detective Steve Brown charged them with assault on the Binfords, aggravated burglary and theft of property. Both Butner and Lambert are convicted felons.
Commander Preble Acton of the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division said Butner and Lambert were suspects in numerous burglaries in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.
General and narcotics detectives and patrol deputies executed a search warrant at a Morton Road home where they recovered about $4,000 worth of stolen property linked to Butner and Lambert.
“We recovered a lot of property that doesn’t appear to be theirs,” Acton said.
Property recovered included chain saws, weed trimmers, long guns and power tools. Detectives will try to match the stolen property to victims who reported their items missing.
“This will be a tedious process,” Acton said
Logsdon reported the Binfords gave a description of the suspects who drove away in a stolen black Dodge pickup truck.
While responding to the call, Owens saw the truck on Old Barfield Road. He followed the truck to St. James Road where the truck stopped and Butner and Lambert fled. Owens chased them until he lost sight of them in a tree line. Other deputies and the sheriff’s Special Response Team responded.
Because sheriff’s K-9 officers were not on duty, Murfreesboro Police K-9 Officer Trey Mansfield and K-9 partner Diesel, along with Deputy Mike Hoekstra and Officer Josh Borell of MPD’s Incident Response Team, started the track of the suspects.
Diesel and the officers located Lambert near a tree line. Mansfield and Diesel took Butner into custody.
Both Butner and Lambert were treated for the dog bite injuries at Middle Tennessee Medical Center. When released, Brown charged Butner, 31, of Morton Road and Lambert, 29, of Vanessa Court. Owens charged them with felony evading arrest and possession of stolen property.
They are being held in Rutherford County Adult Detention Center until a hearing Dec. 7 in General Sessions Court.
Acton said patrol deputies were diligent in apprehended the suspects that resulted in the arrest.
“It’s hard to catch burglars,” Acton said. “It takes a lot of patrol effort. This has made a dent” into unsolved burglaries. “We’re not done.”
