Keitherland Phillips arrested for stealing boy’s birthday gift

La Follette Police Sgt. Anthony Mahar locates and returns 11-year-old boy’s bicycle

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Sgt. Anthony Mahar answered the call of a bicycle stolen from the front yard of a La Follette home. That was at 5:38pm last Wednesday.

It wasn’t just any stolen bicycle. It was a brand new, silver Huffy Mountain Bike, the birthday gift of an 11-year-old boy. The boy’s mom noticed the bike was missing and called police.

HERE is related story.

Mahar stopped by the boy’s home, gathered some more details and went right to work. “I know where there are some places around that have a lot of bicycles, and I visited them. Sure, enough at one stop I located a brand new bike that fit the description of the missing bicycle,” said Mahar.

“I made contact with Keitherland Phillips at a home at 906 West Forrest Street and asked if he had seen or knew anything about a silver Huffy Mountain Bike being stolen,” said Mahar. Phillips told the officer “no”, based on the police report.

The sergeant asked Phillips if he had any bikes on the property other than the ones he could see in plain sight. Phillips allegedly said that he had one in the building.

Phillips and Mahar walked to the back of the yard to a storage building and as they walked around the corner of the home, the sergeant saw the stolen bike, according to the police report. The bike was missing its rear wheel, and its brakes were dissembled.

When asked about that bike, Phillips allegedly told Mahar that he and his friend were walking, and that they found the bike on Jacksboro Pike.

Mahar asked for the other male to come out of the house and asked him how they ended up with the bike. He told the sergeant they were walking on the road, West Chestnut Street, behind the old IGA and passed a house. Phillips allegedly told his cohort to hold on a minute, ran in the yard and grabbed the bike, according to the police report.

Phillips theft charge ended up being a drug charge, too. After Mahar went to his cruiser to get gloves, and when he returned, he allegedly saw a small blue baggie on the ground near Phillips. One of Phillips pants pockets was inside out. Phillips told the officer the baggie was not his.

Mahar checked Phillips other pocket and allegedly found a similar blue baggie. The baggies had a white residue substance on them, based on the report.

Patrol Officer Aidyn Fudala transported Phillips to the county jail. Mahar returned the bicycle to the boy. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/29/2025-6AM)