CHEROKEE COUNTY, NC — A man wanted on multiple charges in North Carolina and Tennessee is now in custody after Cherokee County deputies say a caller reported seeing him walking beside US Highway 64 west. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said its E-911 center received the tip on Sept. 24, and responding deputies later found and identified the man as Nathan O’Niel Hass.
Authorities said Hass first gave a false name when deputies approached him. After they confirmed his identity, they tied him to several outstanding warrants in Cherokee County and to a parole violation warrant from Tennessee connected to a 1999 homicide case in Monroe County.
Deputies say a highway sighting broke the case open
The sheriff’s office said the investigation moved quickly once the report came in about a man walking along the highway. Deputies responded to the area and made contact with the suspect, who initially tried to avoid being identified by giving officers a fake name.
Once his identity was established, authorities said they were able to connect him to the active warrants already on file. The arrest came after what Sheriff Chris Wood described as a long search for Hass, with the community’s tip helping bring that search to an end.
The agency did not say how long Hass had been wanted before the arrest, but the sheriff’s public thanks made clear that local information played a central role in locating him.
North Carolina charges include larceny, shoplifting and lottery ticket offenses
In Cherokee County, Hass was charged with larceny, shoplifting and illegal possession of lottery tickets, according to the sheriff’s office. Those charges stem from the county warrants that were active before deputies caught up with him near the highway.
The office did not release additional details about the alleged thefts or the circumstances behind the lottery ticket charge. It also did not say whether the North Carolina cases involved one incident or separate complaints.
What is clear is that the arrest resolved multiple local warrants at once. That made the brief encounter on the roadside more than a routine stop, since it linked a street-level sighting to a wider arrest effort already underway in the county.
Tennessee warrant tied to older homicide case
Along with the Cherokee County charges, authorities said Hass was also a fugitive from Tennessee. The sheriff’s office said he was wanted on a parole violation warrant from Monroe County tied to a 1999 homicide case.
The release did not describe Hass’s role in that case or explain the status of the underlying homicide investigation. It only identified the warrant as a parole violation related to that older matter.
That Tennessee warrant gave the arrest a broader interstate dimension, with one suspect facing legal issues in two states at once. For deputies, it also meant the arrest cleared a person who had been sought beyond the county line.
Bond set at $12,500 as the case moves into court
Cherokee County officials said Hass’s bond was set at $12,500 for all of his charges. That figure covers the North Carolina matters listed by the sheriff’s office, though the department did not say whether Tennessee authorities had placed any additional hold on him.
The sheriff’s office did not provide a court date or say where Hass was being held after the arrest. It also did not spell out whether any extradition process would be needed for the Tennessee warrant.
For now, the bond amount is the clearest public detail about the next step in the case. It signals that Hass remains in the system on the Cherokee County matters while the separate Tennessee warrant remains part of the broader picture.
Sheriff Chris Wood credits the community for helping end the search
Sheriff Chris Wood thanked residents for helping bring the search to a close. His comments framed the arrest as a community-assisted effort, not just a routine police stop, and suggested that the tip about the man walking along the highway mattered.
The sheriff’s office did not release any further statement about Hass’s background or say whether deputies had been looking for him for weeks or months. Still, the language used by Wood made clear that the arrest had been significant enough to prompt a public note of appreciation.
In cases like this, a brief sighting can become the key piece of information investigators need. Here, a call to the county’s E-911 service led deputies to a man already facing active warrants in one state and a parole violation warrant in another.
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