SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Thanks to a tracking device in a little girl’s backpack, authorities were able to arrest two Nashville men with checkered criminal histories who allegedly broke into multiple vehicles in Hendersonville.
The Hendersonville Police Department (HPD) said the suspects victimized close to a dozen people, causing law enforcement to wonder why they have to keep arresting the same individuals over and over.
Surveillance footage showed two men breaking into cars behind Cruisin Sports in Hendersonville on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Authorities later identified the pair as 19-year-old Cordarious Taylor and 21-year-old Dartazz Beach.
Police said the men also stole an Acura belonging to a mother of two outside of a local nail salon. The woman was with her 6-year-old daughter at the time.
“I panicked a little bit and I said, ‘How am I gonna get my car back?'” the woman recalled.
After calling the HPD, the 42-year-old remembered there was an Apple AirTag on her daughter’s backpack, which was still in the car.
“It would say it was at this location two minutes ago,” the mother said.
According to the victim, the tracker showed her car in Nashville, so investigators headed to Music City.
“We were able to mobilize some people, get them down to Nashville, Nashville jumped on it with us,” HPD Lt. Chris Gagnon explained.
After a brief chase where spike strips were deployed, the alleged auto thieves were taken into custody.
“Ultimately, with all the evidence that we located, [we] confirmed that they had stolen a vehicle and had committed all eight burglaries that we’d had in the city,” Gagnon said.
When asked about helping find her own car, the mother said, “Well, I wish it didn’t happen, but now it makes me realize definitely put those AirTags in your cars, in your wallets, in your keys, in your purse, in your everything.”
“You gonna go get your police badge soon?” News 2’s Andy Cordan asked.
“Well, it kind of makes me want to be a detective. It’s kind of fun,” the woman replied with a chuckle.
News 2 did some digging into the young men’s criminal histories.
According to a Davidson County arrest affidavit, Beach and another man were accused of carjacking a man at gunpoint on Aug. 17, 2024. They allegedly wore ski masks, took the victim’s keys and phone, pistol-whipped him, and drove off in his car.
However, there was an AirTag inside the victim’s vehicle, allowing the Metro Nashville Police Department to track the car, per the affidavit. The investigation led law enforcement to Beach, who was reportedly driving another vehicle that had two handguns and ammo in it. Authorities also found a ski mask, along with 108 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
When asked about taking Beach into custody just a few months after his aggravated robbery arrest in Nashville, Gagnon said, “It’s extremely unfortunate. It seems like it’s just a revolving door for some of these guys, and we’re not keeping them locked up nearly as long as we need to to make sure that the community’s safe, so hopefully this will put him in jail for a while.”
News 2 also mentioned Beach’s prior charges to the Hendersonville mother, who said, “I think he needs to do his time and I think he needs to learn a hard lesson, and hopefully he can learn and become useful to society at some point, but at this point in time, I think he really needs to be locked up.”
When it comes to Taylor, HPD officials told News 2 they had been seeking him since last summer. Investigators confirmed Taylor was suspected of accessing a locker at Planet Fitness, finding keys inside, and then using the keys to steal a car from the parking lot.
“He is one of our repeat offenders, and it seems to be the same story every time: he comes up here, he finds a car that he can hop in and tear away in, and then we have to track him down somewhere in Nashville to find him,” Gagnon explained.
Both suspects are being held in the Sumner County Jail for auto burglary and auto theft, but the HPD told News 2 more charges are possible.
