Sheriff’s Department Asks For Help In Locating Suspect

The Sheriff’s Department is asking for your help in locating a man wanted in DeKalb and two other counties on various charges.
30 year old William Paul McGee of Smithville is believed to be traveling in a red 2000 Jeep Cherokee with a license plate bearing the letters and numbers RHV-126.
Authorities believe McGee and 21 year old Josh Neal were the two men in a Jeep Cherokee that ran from county deputies on Tuesday night, which led to Officer Andy Snow losing control of his patrol car and overturning on Short Mountain Road near the DeKalb/Cannon County line.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says Snow and another deputy from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department went to the home of Neal’s cousin on Lee Braswell Road Tuesday evening after receiving a call from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department that Neal was a suspect in the break-in of his step-father’s home on Capshaw Road in which some guns were stolen. DeKalb County also had a warrant on Neal for violation of probation. Neal, who had formerly lived with his step-father, had reportedly recently moved in with his cousin.
Neal’s cousin told the deputies that Neal had been at the residence, but that he had left with another man in a red Jeep Cherokee. Sheriff Ray says the officers were still at the residence talking to Neal’s cousin when the Jeep Cherokee drove by.
Knowing that Lee Braswell Road dead ends, the deputies got in their patrol cars to follow the Jeep Cherokee but met it coming back. Officer Snow tried to get the vehicle to stop, but the driver of the Jeep Cherokee accelerated toward Snow’s patrol car and swerved at the last instant, taking a ditch to go around the cruiser.
The deputies got behind the Jeep Cherokee and turned from Lee Braswell Road onto Highway 146 south. Officer Snow, while still trying to get the vehicle stopped, lost control of his patrol car and wrecked near the county line.
Snow was taken to DeKalb Community Hospital where he was treated and released with minor injuries.
The Jeep Cherokee was last seen speeding toward Cannon County.
Sheriff Ray says Neal returned to his cousin’s home on Lee Braswell Road Wednesday morning, having hitched a ride after walking part of the way back from Woodbury.
Neal was subsequently arrested but McGee remains at large.
Sheriff Ray says authorities got a tip Wednesday that McGee might be at a residence in Cannon County, but he was not there when DeKalb and Cannon County officers went to investigate.
If you know of McGee’s whereabouts or see the red Jeep Cherokee call the Sheriff’s Department at 597-4935.