[at-l] THIEF!

[themissjanet at gmail.com (Janet Hensley)]

It is with a certain amount of anger and saddness that I feel that
Ihave to start letting the AT community know about a situation. I am
angry because the authorities can't seem to catch this guy!! I am
angry and saddened that one "hiker" can cause so much trouble to the
AT community. It is a constant effort to educate our communities about
who hikers are and why they should be welcome in our towns. Then, in
just a few days, I am afraid that this "hiker" has hurt the effort to
promote hikers as more than homeless vagrants and thieves. (I am
thinking of all kinds of new uses for Duck Tape right now!!) I have
double checked these details and I believe these to be mostly
accurate.


Several weeks ago a hiker that was going by the name of "SAVED" was
hiking southbound in PA and stole a girls food bag and some other
items. He was later confronted by other hikers and forced to make
restitution to this hiker. SAVED left hiking south.

A couple of weeks later a man wearing hiking gear broke into a home in
Wintergreen where he traded his stuff for nice, newer, hiking gear...
( Wingfoot sent service providers a list of the gear that was stolen
and a description of the man) He cooked himself some food, resupplied
himself, stole a car and drove away. The car was later found near
Bland, Va. A decription of the man seen in the area was put out by the
Wintergreen police. Hikers identified him as SAVED. These hikers were
able to give a very detailed description to the police:

Late 20's - Early 30's, 5'10. 160 pounds, very dark hair cut short and
a black beard.
He is from Rhode Island and has a distinct accent.
He has numerous "Celtic or Japanesee type" tribal tattoos on his neck,
shoulders, arms and legs. At one time he was carrying an ornamental
machette. He is still believed to be carrying a bayonette.
Hikers have reported him as being very "friendly and nice" and he
seems to have been well liked by some people. This may explain partly
why he has not been caught.

For the last couple of weeks Southbound Thruhikers have seen SAVED
many times and reported his whereabouts to the police. Despite several
middle of the night raids on shelters in Southern Va by police with
flashlights... they did not catch him. At one time a hiker told the
police where and when SAVED would be at a road crossing. The hiker
later saw Saved right there, when he said he would be there, but there
were no police.

SoBo's have reported seeing him recently in both Catawba and
Pearisburg. He is suspected of stealing a car ?? in Southwest, Va a
few days ago. This car was found at Indian Grave Gap here in Unicoi
County two nights ago. Yesterday a red, Nissan Pathfinder was stolen 9
miles south on the AT near the Nolichucky river. Police are still
looking for SAVED and request that any information be directed to the
Unicoi County Sheriffs Department.

Last night at 11"O clock on our TriCity wide local news the opening
Headline was "APPALACHIAN TRAIL THIEF!". Within minutes I was
receiving phone calls! The local radio station ran the story this
morning as well as the local paper. More phone calls! This "thief"
seems to have no concept of right and wrong and no respect for other
people's things or the AT. I am afraid that this has already hurt the
AT community... in the eyes of many in this area and I hope he will be
picked up soon before he causes more damage. No one seems to think he
is "dangerous" but he is certainly hurting every single one of us in
the long run!