Intruder found reading antique Bible, wearing home owner's boots, also tries to plant potted plants

An Elizabethton man was arrested on Monday after he reportedly entered the house of a Hampton woman without her permission and began acting strangely. Michael Gordon Vest, 36, 107 Timber Ridge Lane, was arrested by Deputy Jon Frazier on a charge of aggravated burglary.

Penny Williams said she was in the rear of her residence shortly before 6 p.m. when she heard someone enter the front door. When she went to check, she found Vest, who was not known to her, standing in the living room holding a small house plant and reading from Williams’ antique Bible.

Williams ordered the man to leave, but she said he began to come further into the house. She retreated toward the rear of her house and Vest went outside, she said. When he got outside, she said, he attempted to plant several potted plants in the ground. Vest was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies shortly after that.

Lt. Patrick Johnson said Vest was wearing a pair of boots taken from Williams’ residence and had a pair of her glasses. During the encounter inside the house, the antique Bible Vest was reading was damaged and the front cover was torn off. A pair of household scissors was also fond sticking out of the exterior wall to the left of the front door. Vest was taken to Sycamore Shoals Hospital for an evaluation, then taken to the Carter County Jail.