Kingston, TN (WOKI) A man is facing numerous charges after a string of car burglaries earlier this month in Kingston.

Kingston Police Department officials say 20-year-old Jeremiah Noah has been arrested in connection to burglarizing eight different cars on May 3 in the area of First Street, Roane Street, and Spencer Street.

KPD says several items were taken from the cars, including money and firearms.

According to KPD, Noah was arrested on May 9 by the Lenoir City Police Department on several unrelated charges, and after further investigation, was charged with eight counts of burglary and eight counts of theft of property for the burglaries of the vehicles.

The investigation remains active and ongoing, and KPD is asking anyone with information to contact the department at 865-354-8045.

TN (WOKI) An East Tennessee couple at the center of a child abuse and murder investigation is due in court this week, possibly putting an end to their case according to District Attorney Russell Johnson.

Michael Anthony Gray and Shirley Ann Gray’s case has been moving through the Roane and Knox County court systems for years after an investigation into their treatment of their children was prompted in 2020.

The couple has four open cases in both Knox and Roane counties; all of which could be resolved as soon as Tuesday. The Knox County case is centered on Michael and Shirley Gray and Michael Gray, Jr. who are accused of murdering an adopted child found buried at their home in Halls. The parents also face murder charges in the death of another adopted child whose remains were found in Roane County.

The Grays waived their venue option allowing Roane County Criminal Court Judge Jeff Wicks to handle both the Knox and Roane County portions of the case during a hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Roane County Courthouse.

Knoxville, TN (WOKI / WVLT) Three Food City cash registers in the Knoxville-area were recently the targets of scammers using card skimmers.

Representatives of K-VA-T Food Stores, the grocery store’s parent company, announcing the breach Friday afternoon say the locations in Kodak, Gatlinburg, and the Mechanicsville area of Knoxville were targeted. Security found the devices and called the police, prompting an investigation.

According to K-VA-T Food Stores, only customers who swiped their cards using the magnetic strip had any data taken, and that data was limited to card numbers and pins rather than any identifying information.

Security also reportedly used surveillance cameras to identify the scammers, and they were detained when they returned to the stores to collect the data. The company provided the following statement to our news partner, WVLT:

At K-VA-T Food Stores, the privacy and security of our customers is our top priority. We have security protocols in place at each location to help us identify fraudulent activity. We recently experienced an incident that may have impacted some customer information. The incident only involved the following store locations in Tennessee: Kodak, Gatlinburg, and Mechanicsville/Knoxville.

Recently we discovered one unauthorized device on a single card reader at each of the three store locations above. We immediately removed the skimming device, contacted law enforcement, and launched an investigation. We completed a thorough examination of the 2,500+ remaining card readers throughout the company and no other fraudulent activity was found. We also increased the number of times we inspect our card readers each day.

Thanks to the great work of our Security Department which utilized our highly sophisticated video surveillance system, we identified the suspects who installed the devices. When they returned to the store to attempt to retrieve data from the device (which had already been removed), the suspects were intercepted and detained by our Security Department personnel before entering the store. The suspects were taken into custody by local law enforcement and as of the date of this notice are being held on multiple charges. Information gained in the apprehension of these suspects indicated they targeted several other retail companies in the greater Knoxville area.

Our investigation indicates the skimmers were in place for a short period of time and potentially affected 146 transactions. It appears that the devices were only capable of collecting card number and pin number (if used) from magnetic swiped card transactions. No names appear to have been collected. Card transactions involving tap or chip reader technology (inserting your card) were not impacted, nor were any of our self-checkout areas or transactions. None of our other systems were impacted as a result of this incident.

We have notified individuals who may have been affected and for which we had contact information. However, customers who shopped the Food City location in Gatlinburg, TN or the Mechanicsville store on Western Avenue in Knoxville, TN between April 9th and April 14th; or who shopped the Food City in Kodak, TN between April 9th and April 17th and swiped a magnetic striped card through the card reader are encouraged to remain vigilant by reviewing bank and credit card account statements and monitoring credit reports. Card transactions utilizing the tap or chip reader technology (inserting your card) were not impacted, nor were any self-checkout transactions. – K-VA-T Food Stores