Former Dean political director arrested on felony charges in bill dispute

A dispute over a car repair involving a former political director for Mayor Karl Dean [1]’s campaign has yielded felony criminal charges.

Derrick Tibbs, 38, said he was shocked to learn he was on the Metro Nashville Police Department West Precinct’s Top 10 most wanted list on Monday.

Tibbs, who worked on Mayor Karl Dean’s 2011 re-election campaign, is charged with felony counts of theft of property for more than $1,000 as well as one count of theft of services between $500 and $1,000.

According to police affidavits, Tibbs refused to pay Precision Autohaus more than $1,800 in repairs on his 2003 Mercedes Benz on June 13.

Tibbs was arrested by police on Monday night but is now free on $1,000 bond.

Tibbs has a different story, though. He told The City Paper he had to take the car off the lot in order to get a loan to cover the high repair cost. After he left, his car broke down, he said. He had it fixed for $500 by another repair shop.

Precision Autohaus claims they never released the car to Tibbs.

The auto shop called police when Tibbs didn’t pay the bill. The district attorney’s office screened the complaint and sent the case back to West Precinct for further investigation.

After review, West Precinct took out the warrant — not the district attorney's office — and listed Tibbs on the most wanted list for the felony charges.

A longtime, behind-the-scenes presence in Tennessee politics, Tibbs was a legislative liaison for the Tennessee Department of Transportation for four years before joining Dean’s campaign last year.