A Memphis man tracked down his own stolen 2014 Chevrolet Corvette before police could, leading officers to a Southeast Memphis parking lot where they say they found two people inside the car — along with a non-original key and an AR-style rifle that had allegedly been modified to fire like a machine gun.
The Corvette, valued at more than $24,000, was stolen from the 2500 block of Four Seasons Drive, according to WREG. Two days later, the victim told police he had received information that his car was parked in the 5900 block of Mount Moriah Extended, and officers who responded found the Corvette backed into the lot with Terrance Brooks, 25, and Coriunna Love, 21, inside, per the same report.
Brooks was in the driver's seat holding a key to the Corvette, but police said it was not the original key, the station reported. Love was in the front passenger seat, and police said an AR-style rifle sitting at her feet had been modified to fire in fully automatic mode, according to WREG's account of the arrest.
Charges Filed Against Both Occupants
Brooks and Love were both charged with theft of property valued at $10,000 to $60,000 and with possessing a prohibited weapon, listed in the charge as a machine-gun conversion device, per the same report. Under Tennessee law, theft in that dollar range is classified as a Class C felony, which carries three to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Love was released from jail on a $10,000 bond and had a bond-review hearing scheduled for Tuesday, while Brooks was set to make his first court appearance Monday, according to WREG. As with any criminal case, both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise. The Memphis Police Department's account, as reported by WREG, did not say whether either Brooks or Love had an attorney, and it did not state that federal charges have been filed in connection with the case.
As first reported by Backfire News, the Memphis Police Department's account also left open how the non-original key came to work in the Corvette and has not said whether the owner's own key fobs had stopped functioning. Backfire News noted that a future Shelby County case filing is expected to clarify what specific part allegedly converted the rifle and where the substitute key originated.
A Weapon Problem Memphis Police Say Keeps Growing
The rifle-conversion allegation fits into a pattern Memphis police have flagged repeatedly. Officers told WREG in a separate report that two or three Glock-switch-converted weapons are being recovered per week across the city, a pace that underscores how common illegally modified firearms have become in local crime cases.
Tennessee lawmakers moved to toughen penalties for that exact problem. Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 1093 in May 2025, and the law took effect that July, expanding the state's definition of a machine gun to include parts designed solely to convert a firearm into one and raising the penalty for knowingly possessing, making, transporting, repairing, or selling such a device from a Class E to a Class C felony.
Federal prosecutors have also pursued switch cases in West Tennessee. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee announced 26 switch-related prosecutions across Memphis and Jackson in 2023, saying at the time that possessing a conversion part alone can carry up to 10 years in federal prison.
Stolen Cars Down Even As This Case Raises Questions
The theft itself comes amid a broader decline in Memphis car thefts. The Memphis Police Department reported that motor-vehicle thefts dropped 54% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, a trend that makes a case involving a nearly $25,000 sports car and an allegedly converted rifle stand out all the more.
For now, the exact mechanics behind the duplicate key and the rifle's alleged modification remain unresolved, pending further details that are expected to surface as the Shelby County case moves forward.
