City of Alcoa police detectives have charged two Blount County men in connection to several vehicle burglaries that occurred at two Alcoa hotels.

Richard L. Dixon, 27, Morganton Road, Maryville, and Cory Lee Nelson, 22, Zelmer Lane, Maryville, were taken into custody on Friday, Oct. 16 and were charged Saturday, Oct. 17 with one count of burglary of a vehicle. Additional charges against Dixon and Nelson are pending. They were both free from the Blount County Jail on $1,500 bonds.

Alcoa police officers responded at 7:52 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16 to an Alcoa hotel and spoke to a Thomasville, Ga. woman who said her vehicle had been burglarized sometime during the night or morning while parked in the hotel parking lot. The driver’s side window of her vehicle had been broken out during the incident.

Officers began looking at other vehicles in the parking lot, due to recent burglary activity in the area, and discovered other vehicles that had been burglarized. The suspects had stolen cameras, GPS units, binoculars, a firearm, wallet and other items from the vehicles. Value of stolen items and damage to vehicles totaled about $3,700.

Officers also discovered a van belonging to a Sevierville man had been broken into while parked at another Alcoa hotel. A hotel guest reported that a window was broken in the van and the Sevierville man discovered several items missing from his van upon his return to the hotel on a later date. Value of stolen items and damage to his vehicle totaled about $1,050.

Through an investigation, Dixon and Nelson were identified as suspects in the multiple burglaries. Officers began looking for Dixon’s gray, Chevrolet S-10 truck, which was believed to be driven by the suspects at the time of the burglaries. When the truck was discovered later in the day, Sgt. Rodney Wilson and Detective Sgt. Terry McGill performed a traffic stop on the vehicle.

“We were given consent to search the truck and stolen items were found in the vehicle during the traffic stop,” McGill said.

The next day, detectives were also given consent to search a van belonging to Nelson, where they located more of the stolen items. The majority of the items have been recovered and detectives are actively searching for the remaining stolen items.

The investigation is continuing on Dixon and Nelson in connection to other vehicle burglaries in the area.