200 Shelby Street • Kingsport, TN 37660

ThomasMPatton • 423-229-9433 (Desk) • 423-224-2786 (FAX)

http://Police.KingsportTN.gov • www.KingsportPDBlog.com

The victim reported that an unidentified suspect, who was sitting near her in the restaurant, began starring at her and “making eyes” toward her in a flirtatious manner. As she approached the condiment counter, the suspect walked up behind her and grabbed her buttocks. She promptly turned around to see him stick his tongue out at her and lick his lips in a sexual context. The suspect immediately left the restaurant in a white Ford work truck with an aluminum ladder on top.

The victim described him as a heavy-set, bald, approximately 50 year old, white male adult. The incident was captured on restaurant surveillance video which confirmed the victim’s description of the suspect and her account of the incident. That footage was collected as evidence and turned over to Detectives in the K.P.D. Criminal Investigations Division.

During the course of the investigation that followed, the suspect in question was positively identified as Carl Earnest Jennings. When later interviewed by Detectives, he too confirmed the victim’s account in his confession, with a warrant being obtained for his arrest.

On January 5, 2017 at approximately 9:15 AM, Mr. Jennings was arrested at the Kingsport Justice Center for Sexual Battery and booked into the Kingsport City Jail. He has since been released after posting a $3,000 bond as set by the presiding judge.

46 Years of Age

Kingsport, TN

Kingsport Police Department Professional Standards Unit