NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man with a prior sexual assault conviction was arrested in Bellevue on Wednesday night after being found in a stolen vehicle with a loaded weapon and a fake ID, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 7:45 p.m. on March 12, when detectives from the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) discovered a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado with a Florida license plate in the parking lot of a Home Depot on Highway 70 South. Inside the truck, they found 30-year-old Dalonte Marquies Ball, who was wanted for a felony violation of the sex offender registry.
According to law enforcement, the truck had been reported stolen. Investigators said Ball had rented the vehicle from Enterprise in February but failed to return it, prompting the theft report.
Upon further investigation, officers found a loaded Glock 27 handgun in the truck. The gun had a magazine with ammunition, including one round in the chamber. Ball allegedly told authorities that the weapon belonged to a friend who had left it behind in a motel room nine days earlier, and that he was simply holding onto it for the friend.
In addition to the gun, detectives seized an Illinois driver’s license bearing Ball’s picture, but with another man’s personal information. Ball admitted to creating the fake ID online.
When questioned about the arrest, a shopper entering the Bellevue Home Depot expressed relief that law enforcement was actively addressing the situation. “If the cops are out there and doing their job, that’s what I expect,” the shopper said, adding that he was concerned about how the convicted felon had obtained the firearm.
“Still not allowed to have it,” the shopper remarked, referring to Ball’s prior criminal history.
Ball’s criminal background includes a 2016 conviction for deviate sexual assault in Missouri. He had been sentenced to seven years in prison following the 2014 conviction, related to an incident in which he and another man were charged with forcible rape and sodomy in a Missouri basement. Ball served his full sentence, which lasted from 2016 to 2021, before being released.
As of now, Ball remains in custody and faces several charges, including possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and identity theft. Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the gun and the fake identification.
