TRINITY – A 34-year-old Trinity man who has been sought by police for the past 15 months was captured without incident last week when officers surrounded a Hamilton Street mobile home.
Richard Mack surrendered to police after officers were directed to the mobile home by a Crime Stoppers tip.
He was arrested on warrants charging him with violation of his parole, felony possession of a controlled substance (crack cocaine) and misdemeanor evading arrest.
“We have been looking for this suspect for a long time, in fact, we had been to this address before as part of that search but just missed him,” said Trinity Police Chief Steven Jones.
Jones said the Crime Stoppers tip came at about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15. He quickly gathered a force of five law enforcement officers, went to the Hamilton Street residence and surrounded the mobile home.
When no one answered the door, one of Mack’s relatives was called to the scene with a key to the front door. Jones said that as soon as the door was opened, Mack stepped forward and surrendered to Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Chad Seamons.
Jones said Mack was in custody by about 4:40 p.m., just over an hour after his department received the Crime Stoppers tip.
“We do follow up on the tips we receive so I’d like to encourage people to keep making them,” he said, noting that anonymous tips made through the 642-2334 Crime Stopper hotline can result in cash rewards.
In addition to Seamons, other officers involved in the arrest included Jones, Sgt. Tommy Park, Officer Randy Wheeler and Officer John Raiford of the Trinity Police Department, and Pct. 3 Deputy Constable Hayne Huffman. Jones added the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Division also provided information related to the arrest.
The search for Mack began on Aug. 4, 2008 when officers went to a Rockdale Street residence in an attempt to serve a warrant charging Tommie “Bug” Simmons of Trinity with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Simmons was wanted in connection with the Aug. 1, 2008 shooting of Jarvis “J.D.” Tyson and the Aug. 4 visit to Simmons’ residence was the officer’s second attempt to take him into custody.
When officers arrived at the residence that day, they were unable to locate Simmons but found three men standing outside.
Because they were in a “high crime” neighborhood that had experienced a number of shootings, Jones said officers asked the men if they were carrying weapons.
Upon checking the men, instead of weapons, officers found drugs. On one, they found a vial containing 38 rocks of cocaine – about 13.6 grams – with a street value of about $760.
The suspect managed to break free and escape the area on foot before officers could place him into custody and a warrant for Mack was subsequently issued.
A second man at the scene, Donald Ray Hobbs, 30, of Trinity was arrested after officers reportedly found two rocks of crack cocaine in his pocket.