First and foremost, I want to say that having to write this is extraordinarily embarrassing for me. I'm not embarrassed by what has happened to me, but I'm embarrassed that I'm asking strangers on the internet for help. I've always been the guy in my family who took care of the problems. My parents' HVAC unit died, no problem. I would write a check for it. My mom's car dies, no problem. I would pay to have it repaired or buy her another one. My brother is behind and needs three months of bills paid, no problem. I could whip out my checkbook. Up until this incident, I was financially the most successful person in my family, and it's been painfully humbling to live through these tribulations. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
Sometime around June of 2025, my six-year-old daughter and I bought some chicks at Tractor Supply in our town of Oak Ridge, TN. It was really late in the season, and they had them on clearance. After raising them in a brooding box for a few weeks, I moved them to a chain-link chicken tractor in my yard. I was purposefully rotationally grazing these chickens in my front yard to restore my grass health, and they were doing an excellent job.
In October of that same year, I was sitting at my house one midmorning, hanging out with my kids, and I saw lights shining on my wall. I look out the window, and I see a car in the driveway with its headlights on, but no one inside. I then move to another window and see someone walking around my yard like they own my house. They redirect and enter an area of my property where strangers shouldn’t be, a covered carport where I store large tools such as welders, cutting torches, concrete mixers, and large tool boxes. I retrieved a sidearm from my gun cabinet, stepped out on my front porch in my pajamas, gun at my side, and clearly and assertively asked this person, “Who are you and what are you doing on my property?” Keep in mind that I had two young children inside, and I was there alone. This person never rang my doorbell, knocked on my door, or announced themselves. After challenging this person, they turned and approached me from about 35 feet away. She introduced herself as a city code enforcement officer. I didn’t realize until this moment that it was a woman. She said that I violated city codes because I didn’t have the proper permit for my daughter’s chickens. I calmly, but assertively, told this woman that I didn’t believe I needed a permit to grow food on my own property. I then told her to write me a citation, and we’d go to court and talk about it, as I am all about having my day in court. She said she would be in touch via the mail. The whole verbal interaction lasted about 90 seconds, and neither of us raised our voices. I would also like to stress that during this interaction, I’m still in my pajamas on my covered front porch with my small children inside. For those proficient in legal jargon, I never left the curtilage of my home.
After leaving my property, this lady drives across town to the local police station and fabricates a story that I threatened her with my firearm. This was obviously a complete fallacy. I am both a US Marine Corps veteran and a State of Tennessee law enforcement officer as recent as June 2025. I am well-trained in firearms and firearm safety. I’m also intimately familiar with Tennessee gun laws and know not to verbally threaten someone while in possession of a firearm. Nonetheless, several hours later, the city police department SWAT team rolled an MRAP into our front yard with what appeared to be about an 11-man SWAT team. They telephoned me at my home and said they had a warrant for my arrest. I stalled long enough for my wife to get home from work to take our children. Our son is severely autistic, non-verbal, and still in diapers at eight years old. As I was leaving my home, facing down this SWAT team with my two small children, my daughter looked up at me and asked, "Daddy, you're not going to let them kill me, are you?" I lied to her and told her I would never let anyone hurt her, but the truth is, if one of them had become trigger-happy, there was nothing I could have done to protect her. They would not let my wife come to the house and collect our children. I had to leave my house with my small children in tow while being laser-painted by this SWAT team. Once I passed off my children to my wife, I surrendered myself to the police. The police subsequently executed a search warrant and took all of my sidearms they could find. They charged me with aggravated assault and 11 counts of animal cruelty.
Just to be clear, I had my house raided, I was arrested, and falsely charged with 12 crimes, all because I had "unpermitted chickens" and I hurt the code enforcement lady’s feelings while standing in the confines of my own home with a firearm. Unfortunately, because of these fabricated charges, I lost my six-figure job in tech, and I'm basically unemployable until I beat the charges. Thanks to the grace of Jesus Christ and my incredible wife, I have already paid my lawyers, but without a permanent and consistent job, my living expenses are crushing me. I've already lost my tractor to repossession, I'm on the verge of losing my house and my truck, and I have defaulted on all of my unsecured debt. The stress of this situation has ruined my personal life to the point that my wife took our children and left me. This was not completely my wife's fault, as there are extenuating circumstances that I cannot talk about in this forum. I still have my dog, a Belgian Malinois named Brock, but he's 11 years old now. I hope he's around for a while longer, as he is about all I have left.
The week after I was arrested, my mom had quadruple-bypass, open-heart surgery. I have been living at my parents' house since helping take care of my severely disabled dad. We are in the process of entering him into hospice now. He has suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries from a car wreck, two construction accidents, and has now developed a disorder called secondary Parkinson's syndrome in addition to being a severe diabetic. My mom has to go back under the knife in June of 2026 because three of her four bypasses have failed.
Needless to say, I'm in dire straits and could use some assistance. If you've made it this far and would be willing to help me survive while I fight this battle against these tyrants, care for my parents, and hopefully win my wife and kids back, I would be forever in your debt. If you've made it this far and can't afford to offer support, I still appreciate you for reading my story and would ask that you share it amongst your friends. You'll have to disregard his language, but to get an update directly from my lawyer, you can follow him on TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@attorneychristmas/video/7632079903675927822
Thank you again, and may God bless you.
