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Nashville, Tennessee

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News
November 1, 2007


Past Troubles
Restaurateur and murder victim Eric Brown had a criminal past

by P.J. Tobia

Eric Lamont Brown is known as the man who started Spudz—a scrappy potato shop on Charlotte Pike that sells big baked tubers piled high with toppings like Buffalo chicken and barbecue—with little more than a few dollars and a dream. Last week, that dream ended when the 36-year-old was killed by a single gunshot, his body found in an alley near his store.

But there is a puzzling contradiction to the story of this hardworking self-starter who put himself through TSU’s business school.

Eric Brown was a felon.

According to court documents, Brown was arrested in October 2001 for possession of a handgun and possession—with intent to sell—of 113 grams of marijuana, both felonies. He was indicted on both counts and received a two-year sentence for each charge. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, Brown received probation for the offenses, although he did spend some time in Metro jail. His probation concluded in 2002.

The charges stemmed from a run-in with police as he was entering his car, a 1988 Grand Marquee, at 1700 West End. The trouble was, his license plates belonged to a 1987 GMC Jimmy.

According to an affidavit by the arresting officer, Brown explained the discrepancy by saying that “he transferred the present tag from another vehicle….”

The police took him into custody, and Brown consented to a search of his car.

That’s when the .22 caliber automatic handgun was found. According to a police report, the gun was loaded with nine rounds in the magazine and “one in [the] chamber.” When the cops frisked Brown, they found “a baggie of marijuana in his right front small pocket and another black bag containing a large amount of marijuana.” They also found, according to a police report, rolling papers and a scale.

A search of Brown’s trunk revealed “18 bootleg VHS taped movies.” For possession of these, he was charged with “criminal simulation,” a charge that was later dropped. He would also be charged for switching the license plates, though that charge would be dropped as well.

This wasn’t Brown’s first scrape with the law. In 1994, he was charged with cocaine possession and evading arrest. The next year, he was charged with resisting a “stop and frisk,” and in 1997 he was slapped with a probation violation.

Brown’s longtime girlfriend, Anita Green, says that she had “no idea” about the spud purveyor’s criminal past as she has only been with him since 2002, the same year his sentence expired for the handgun and drug possession charges.

“I wish whatever he did in his past would stay in his past,” she says.

Unfortunately, it may have caught up with him.

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