Tennessee high school teacher arrested after teens say he held them at gunpoint at cemetery

Tenn teacher accused of holding teens at gunpoint

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Police have accused a high school teacher of holding teenagers at gunpoint after he found them ghost-hunting in a Tennessee graveyard.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office says deputies went to Shipley Cemetery, outside of Chattanooga, on Saturday night after a complaint of shots fired.

Police say they confiscated an assault rifle from 45-year-old Stacey Swallows.

Several teens, ages 16-19, told deputies they had gone to the cemetery after reading an online ghost story about it. They say as they were leaving, Swallows blocked the road with his vehicle, pointed the rifle at them and told them to stay until police arrived.

Swallows teaches diesel mechanics at Sequoyah High School in nearby Soddy-Daisy. He was being held on $180,000 bond Monday, charged with nine counts each of aggravated assault and false imprisonment.