When a homeowner in the Linton area came home last weekend and found a man he didn’t know in the backseat of his parked Lincoln, he pulled a firearm and held the man at gunpoint until officers and deputies arrived and took the man to jail.

Jeremy Joe Hansford, 49, Sullivan, was arrested by Deputy Caleb Sipes of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday night, March 5.

At 9:43 p.m. last Saturday, Deputy Sipes, the investigating officer, along with Deputy Michael Coy, were dispatched to a residence on West County Road 150 North, Linton, when Greene County Dispatch got a 911 call that a homeowner was holding a man at gun point.

Officers Wayman JR Blazier and Alan Jackson, both from the Linton Police Department, were closer, they also responded and got there first. When the deputies arrived, the LPD officers had Jeremy Hansford detained.

The homeowner said when he got home, he noticed a man inside his Lincoln and when he got closer, he realized he did not know the man so he pulled out his pistol and held the man, later identified as Hansford, at gunpoint. He told the man to stay put and told another person who was with the homeowner to call the sheriff’s department. The homeowner said the man was sitting in the back seat of the passenger car and it didn’t appear any items had been stolen.

When Deputy Sipes talked to Hansford, Hansford allegedly said he and his brother were looking for arrowheads and his brother dropped him off when he was looking for “artifacts” and then his brother’s truck got stuck. Since Hansford had warrants out for his arrest in Sullivan County, his brother told him to start walking.

When asked how he ended up on the resident’s property, Hansford allegedly said he walked through a field. He allegedly told one story then another about the truck that was stuck, and claimed he was not inside anyone’s vehicle. However, that’s where the homeowner found Hansford and that’s where the two LPD officers said they found Hansford.

Deputy Sipes reported they also determined Hansford had been inside other vehicles that were on the homeowner’s property.

Hansford was arrested and transported to the sheriff’s department where he was booked into the Greene County Jail at 11:25 p.m. with bond set at $500 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He posted $50 bond on the Greene County charge but was not released. He was transferred to Sullivan County where he is still in custody as of Wednesday night, March 9.

Hansford is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for his initial hearing on March 17 on a charge of unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle, a Class B misdemeanor.