About 11 am yesterday, news was breaking about KPD, FBI in cooperation with the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office raiding the West Knox County home of Mike Strickland the Founder and CEO of Knoxville based Bandit Lites. The raid continued over at the Knoxville office of Bandit Lites. Bandit Lites has been awarded the best International lighting company 21 times. Not a shabby, fly by night entity.
Alot of speculation was being talked about all day, even in what appeared to be a salacious , irresponsible tease early afternoon it was revealed that it involved the “cyber crimes” unit. Then Bandit Lites Attorney Nate Evans issued a statement along with a statement by Mr. Strickland that the warrants spoke to a complaint by Strickland’s estranged wife and mother of Strickland and her two sons, Nicole.
Really? The DA’s office spent their time, KPD and FBI’s time and resources running down a raid over the complaint of one person to a two person former domestic relationship? Surely a simple phone call to Strickland and his Attorney Mr. Evans and asking for the box and a half and a few envelopes would have gotten them what they wanted.
It isn’t like Strickland is over there deleting emails on a private server like Hillary Clinton. Whatever complaint is filed, no one has died like in Bengazhi like with Hillary at the helm. So, why the police state action over a soon to be ex wife upset over her failed marriage?
Why was KPD involved?
The residence of Mr. Strickland is NOT in the City of Knoxville. KPD was out of their jurisdiction, if the District Attorney or FBI needed assistance, why use an agency outside the jurisdiction of the agency? Sounds like a political motive to me.
Now, the second raid was at the Bandit Lites Headquarters in the vicinity of the Pleasant Ridge Industrial Development Park. If the District Attorney or FBI needed KPD there and then, it seems appropriate.
Mike Strickland is a native East Tennessean, having started Bandit as a teenager in Kingsport, TN he located Bandit here and has offices in London, Hong Kong. His business could operate anywhere and he decided to keep it based right here in Knoxville . You don’t hear much about Strickland and Bandit because their day to day business may transact out of Knoxville, but could easily transact out of anywhere else in the world.
For what he and his business were subjected to yesterday, if I were him, I would tell all you people in Knoxville and Knox County that you got the last cent of sales tax, business tax from me and my company. It wasn’t right, it appeared to be a staged coupe that wasn’t necessary, in my opinion.
Kudos to the Knoxville News Sentinel, WBIR, WATE for eventually getting the story fair to all by 6 p.m. As for WVLT, during your 6 p.m. news cast when Lauren Davis reported it, she threw out that it could involve someone living in Strickland’s home. That kind of TMZ/National Enquirer crap has never been about WVLT before. While your online news content person may have a personal connection to the story for the station to air it was not standard that Mr. Chris Baker established and has built the station on for all these many years.
Clearly, I am reacting to what all sides reported and what was thrown on the wall yesterday. This whole thing yesterday didn’t smell right from the beginning by using an outside their jurisdiction agency (KPD) of Mr. Strickland’s home to the petty shot lobbed by Lauren Davis who whoever wrote the news content that Davis read on air yesterday.
Makes sense why Mayor Burchett doesn’t like Chamber Partnership. After Knox County bought the industrial park property on Midway Road. Strickland was Chamber Partnership, makes total sense why Mayor dislikes Strickland.
This was a shining example of how to waste tax payer’s money and how to improperly utilize the limited resources that we as a city have, it was also a clear case of people with power abusing that power just to create havoc in the lives of people that they have a vendetta against. The people who initiated this whole debacle should be identified and held accountable. As a taxpayer of Knoxville and Knox County I am appalled at this whole situation. Did nobody along the way stop and think how this was going to look in the news as it played out? Let’s put our ignorance on display so the whole world can see it! I guess we still are just a “scruffy little city” and we paraded that out on the International stage yesterday for all the world to see!
if this woman filed a false report just to get back at her ex, she should have charges filed against her. Local and federal.