NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- An Antioch man with a long criminal history is back behind bars thanks to license plate recognition (LPR) technology and some quick-thinking officers in Nolensville.
Officials told News 2 that Nolensville has eight LPR cameras protecting the city. On Friday, March 14, one of those cameras helped get a convicted criminal off the streets.
Dash camera footage shows a black Audi passing by a Nolensville Police Department patrol vehicle. The officer had already been alerted about the car, which was reported stolen out of Nashville.
The officer quickly pulled the Audi over. The driver -- later identified by authorities as 53-year-old Matthew Mauro -- was ordered out of the vehicle.
Once Mauro was in custody, officers searched his car. They reportedly found a realistic, black airsoft gun.
"At first glance, you look at it and believe it was a pistol," said Lt. Josh Combs with the Nolensville Police Department.
A check of Mauro's background turned up a long criminal history, including arrests in Nashville dating back to 2006.
According to an affidavit from 2016, the Metro Nashville Police Department took Mauro into custody in connection with the theft of a black Dodge rented from Hertz. He was charged with felony theft of property worth more than $10,000 less than $60,000, but based on court records, he was only convicted of misdemeanor joyriding.
The Nolensville Police Department said the 2024 black Audi from last week's incident was also stolen from a rental car company -- more specifically, Enterprise.
The Wilson County Sheriff's Office told News 2 that Mauro was booked in 2015 for multiple counts of criminal simulation and theft.
According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, Mauro was serving a 12-year prison sentence. However, he was out on parole when the Nolensville LPR system reportedly spotted him driving the stolen car on Nolensville Road.
"We typically position where our LPRs are strategically placed. Officers will set up around them because they know we're going to receive hits. We want to be in position to apprehend car and subject as quick as we can, so they do strategically place themselves around the LPRs and wait for these instances," Combs explained.
Mauro is back in jail, this time in Williamson County, with a bond of $30,000. How this arrest affects his parole is unknown at this time.