Crime scene at closed restaurant

A rural Tennessee man has been arrested in Oconee County, charged in a pre-Christmas crime at the former Mountain Rest Café, the Highlands Highway.  Law enforcement records show the arrest of Rodney Gerald Briggs, a 53-year old resident of Flag Pond, Tennessee near Johnson City, on the charge of trespassing and malicious injury to real property.  Deputies decided to pursue charges against Briggs after responding to a suspicious person complaint Friday afternoon.  The officers noted a broken window and quoted Briggs as saying he had broken into the building to get warm.  And they quoted the building owner as saying she closed the café in August and that no one was supposed to be on the property.