Ex-Tennessee Cop, Fugitive For A Decade, Captured

MADISONVILLE, TN -- A former Tennessee police officer, indicted in for theft in 2008 and on the run since, will finally face charges after eluding law enforcement for a decade.

In September 2007, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opened a probe into theft from the police department's evidence room in Sweetwater, a town of 6,000 people 50 miles southwest of Knoxville and home to the world's largest underground lake.

Investigators determined that Sweetwater Police officer Christopher Greene, now 55, stole nearly $25,000 he seized when busting an illegal poker game.

In February 2008, Greene was arrested for non-payment of more than $10,000 in child support and was subsequently fired by the police department. A judge ordered him to surrender his passport after that arrest, because he'd frequently travel to Costa Rica with his new wife.

A grand jury indicted Greene for the evidence room theft in April 2008, but Greene was never arrested, suspected of having fled to Central America.

Two years later, his former home caught fire under suspicious circumstances twice in less than 24 hours.

Last week, Panamanian authorities located Greene and contacted the U.S. Marshals Service. He was brought back to the United States and to Monroe County where he was booked into jail on a $100,000 bond.

Photo via Tennessee Bureau of Investigation