A paroled felon found himself back behind bars for the second time this year after he was picked up for a litany of crimes early Thursday morning, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).
An MNPD release says that 43-year-old Chance Mongeon was behaving strangely after wrecking his Audi Q5 on I-40 East.
“He was wearing a ski mask, had money falling out of his pockets, and was trying to retrieve items from the Audi,” the release says.
When police arrived at the scene, Mongeon (pictured above)allegedly tried to flee, only to be apprehended quickly by officers.
“A check of the SUV led to the discovery of a loaded pistol with no serial number, a window punch and burglary tools, crystal meth, suspected fentanyl, nearly 200 various pills, three digital scales, four bags of synthetic marijuana, and other drug-related items,” according to the release.
He was also carrying $5,500 in cash.
He was taken to General Hospital to treat minor injuries and later booked into Metro Jail.
Mongeon was out on bond after a similar occurrence in May.
During that incident, he crashed his motorcycle and asked witnesses to the crash not to call the police before fleeing on foot, discarding items from his pockets while he ran.
Those items allegedly included a loaded pistol, cash, marijuana, meth, heroin, cocaine, and pills.
He was also allegedly drunk and was carrying a fake Texas license.
That incident landed him in Metro Jail, where he was booked “on a number of drug and gun charges.” He was freed on a $71,000 bond, and those charges remain pending.
He is currently being held without bond due to a parole violation.
Nashville has been working for years to implement strategies to reduce crime, all while the number of police officers in the city has declined and crime rates have risen.
Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Thursday to discuss crime and a “shocking” drop in law enforcement downtown.
Eslick confirmed that a small number of persistent criminals are committing a large portion of the crimes downtown, but they are not being punished harshly.
He told Leahy:
Well, some of them have been arrested eight to 13 times already in 2023. Most of the charges that I just threw out there carry a 30-day sentence.So how can you be arrested 13 times and get a 30-day sentence each time? You can’t, not in a year.
So what I’m finding is they’re basically “time served.”
They get arrested one day, the next morning when the prosecutor comes through, they get “time served” and they’re out.
Some of it derives from the mental incompetence, which is what we saw with the guy that shot the Belmont Student and that he had been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial or to understand the punishment, and so every time he’s arrested, he’s released. And that’s what’s happening. That’s the same thing.
So my question was, if the police aren’t going to do this, then is it up to the business owner, the security guy at the business, or even the tourist to protect themselves?
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
