Fingerprint Leads to Twenty-One-Year Sentence for Career Burglar

Prosecutors in DA Charme Allen’s Career Gang Unit obtained a twenty-one-year sentence against a career criminal who broke into a home off Rutledge Pike. Billy Ray Moats, 42, was convicted of Aggravated Burglary and Theft. Prosecutors sought and Judge Bob McGee handed down the maximum sentence of twenty-one years in prison.

At trial in May, Assistant District Attorney TaKisha Fitzgerald explained to the jury that on September 7, 2016, Knox County Sheriff’s Office Officer Tim Heck responded to a burglary at a residence off Rutledge Pike. A rear window of the home had been broken and nearly $1500 worth of property had been stolen, including two high school football championship rings. The KCSO Forensic Services Unit was able to find a fingerprint on the broken window that matched Moats.

Moats is a Career Offender because he has six prior felony convictions for Aggravated Burglary after he broke into six different homes in 2009.

If you have any questions, please contact Sean McDermott at 865-215-2515 or Sean.McDermott@knoxcounty.org. For more information about the District Attorney’s Office, visit our website at dag.knoxcountytn.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.