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Tuck indicted in Shelby Co.

Tuck indicted in Shelby Co.

Posted: Friday, February 12, 2010 9:19 pm

By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
A Gleason man already serving a 60-year sentence from a series of home invasion sexual assaults in Weakley County has now been indicted for a string of similar incidents last summer in Memphis and Shelby County.
Bruce Tuck, 36, was indicted in Memphis by a state grand jury that returned three separate indictments on multiple felony charges — including aggravated rape, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.
Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced the indictments in a press release Thursday.
In the first indictment, Tuck is charged with five counts of aggravated rape, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated burglary, employing a firearm during a felony and burglary of a motor vehicle for alleged offenses that occurred between June 26 and June 28, 2009. The case was investigated by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.
The second indictment charges Tuck with five counts of aggravated rape, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated burglary and employing a firearm during a felony. The indictment states the alleged offenses occurred between Aug. 4 and Aug. 6, 2009, with the case investigated by the Memphis Police Department.
In the final indictment, Tuck is charged with six counts of aggravated rape, attempted aggravated rape, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated burglary and employing a firearm during a felony for offenses that allegedly occurred between Aug. 22 and Aug. 25, 2009. This case was also investigated by Memphis police.
Tuck is currently serving a 60-year sentence with the Tennessee Department of Correction after pleading guilty Dec. 10 in Weakley County Circuit Court in Dresden to multiple felony charges — including six counts of aggravated rape, aggravated burglary and five counts of aggravated kidnapping — in connection with a series of home invasion sexual assaults last summer in Martin.
Tuck was arrested Sept. 2, 2009, at his parents’ home in Gleason after DNA evidence linked him to a sexual assault on Raven Street in Martin on Aug. 30. He was accused of holding three people at gunpoint and raping a University of Tennessee at Martin student.
Other home invasion sexual assaults had also been reported in Martin and Shelby County throughout the summer months. Those cases prompted a massive search by Martin, Weakley County and Shelby County law enforcement agencies, as well as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, for a suspect described as having a pot belly and wearing a mask.
During the execution of a search warrant at a rental storage unit that reportedly had ties to Tuck, investigators allegedly found a mask similar to the one used during the attacks.
Twelve felony charges were initially levied against Tuck for the Aug. 30 incident on Raven Street in Martin. During a special session by the Weakley County grand jury Nov. 2, he was indicted on 10 additional felony counts that stemmed from two other home invasion sexual assaults in Martin during the summer.
In Weakley County, Tuck was sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison, with 100 percent of the time to be served and with no possibility of parole.
Tuck will now be transported from the Hardeman County Correctional Facility to the Shelby County Jail, where he will be held without bond on the most recent indictments, according to Gibbons. An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled in Shelby County.
“These reported crimes are especially heinous,” Gibbons said. “Although Mr. Tuck is already serving a very long prison sentence for crimes committed elsewhere, we intend to hold him accountable here in Shelby County as well.”
Aggravated rape carries a sentence of up to 60 years without parole and both aggravated rape and aggravated robbery are charges covered by the district attorney’s “no deals” policy on violent crimes. Exceptions are made to the policy for legal or ethical reasons.
The Shelby County case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Abby Wallace and Alanda Dwyer, both of whom are assigned to Criminal Court Division 8, which is designated a special prosecution court for cases involving repeat offenders.
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Staff Reporter Chris Menees may be contacted by e-mail at cmenees@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 2.12.10