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Truck Theft Suspect Inspired Ballad
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Published: March 16, 2009
Updated: 03/16/2009 12:25 am
LAKELAND - Authorities say a convict and inspiration for a folk ballad about a man who stole a Wal-Mart trailer to see his dying mother has been captured in Lakeland, two weeks after escaping from custody in Georgia.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested Christopher Daniel Gay, 34, on Monday in the parking lot of a Lakeland Wal-Mart in a stolen tractor-trailer.
He had escaped in Kennesaw, Ga., on March 3, during transportation to Tennessee to face charges of stealing another trailer in January 2007 to try to get to his mother. He also is accused of stealing country singer Crystal Gayle's tour bus.
Deputies give this account of what happened about 11 a.m. at a Lakeland Wal-Mart on U.S. 98 North:
Detectives tracked the stolen tractor-trailer to the store after it was used in the theft of a front-end loader from a Davenport construction site. The stolen equipment was still on the trailer when it was found at the Wal-Mart.
Detectives set up a perimeter in the parking lot and saw Gay get into the tractor-trailer's cab. Deputies surrounded the truck and ordered Gay to come out. He jumped out of the cab, onto the hood of a patrol car and ran across the parking lot. Deputies caught him a few minutes later.
Gay was wanted on a 2007 arrest warrant issued from the Nashville, Tenn. Metro Police Department for grand theft and felony escape, Polk County sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said in a written statement.
Gay was also wanted on a warrant from the Cobb County (Ga.) Sheriff's Office for felony obstruction, giving false information to a law enforcement officer, escape from custody and battery, Eleazer said.
Gay was booked Monday night in the Polk County Jail on charges of burglary, grand theft, dealing in stolen property and resisting arrest. He is expected to be extradited to Tennessee and Georgia to face charges.
He is the main character in a 2007 song, "The Ballad of Christopher Daniel Gay," by Grammy-award winning bluegrass picker Tim O'Brien.
Police say he never did see his mother who soon died.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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