On the afternoon of June 9, Deputy Ethan Owens responded to a call off of Highway 411 at a local Dollar General store. Arriving on the scene, Owens made contact with employees who explained that a man, later identified as Matthew Garrett, was repeatedly calling the store and harassing the workers, employee testimony explaining that he would yell obscenities at them.
This wasn’t the first time Garrett had called to harass the employees, with a prior report on June 8 detailing similar circumstances and Garrett even arriving on store property. On this day, workers said that he appeared to be calling from a blocked number though they could recognize his voice. Upon exiting the store to see if he was on the property, employees saw his car at the Greenback Market, parked extremely close to the Dollar General store.
When Deputy Owens made contact with Garrett and requested he step out of his vehicle, Garrett immediately replied with “it’s not me calling.” Owens then stated that he hadn’t mentioned anything about calling up to that point. Garrett was then detained and victim statements were obtained. The suspect was in possession of two different cellular devices, but was adamant that the phone calls were not coming from him…