MARYVILLE, TENNESSEE – Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy Seth Bloodgood was honored Tuesday evening by members of the VFW Post #5154 for his service to our community.

Jeff Tegzes, Jr. Vice Commander of VFW Post #5154 presented Deputy Bloodgood with the Law Enforcement Public Service Citation at their post in Louisville. Members of the Post honored Deputy Bloodgood for his brave actions during an extremely dangerous situation in February of 2024 that took the life of Deputy Greg McCowan and the bodily injury of Deputy Shelby Eggers, as well as for his keen observation skills in July 2024 that led to the arrest of two individuals from out of state who stole hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel from a local retailer. Further investigation into the incident revealed the individuals were connected to a larger criminal circle involved in the theft of diesel fuel and credit and debit card fraud. Deputy Bloodgood stopped these criminals from carrying out their scheme to sell the diesel fuel on the black market and further led law enforcement in other jurisdictions in identifying other participants in this criminal ring.

During 2024, the Sheriff James Lee Berrong honored Deputy Bloodgood with a Commendation of Excellence as well as Employee of the Month for July.

Deputy Bloodgood began his law enforcement career with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy in January 2023 and was hired full-time in August 2023. Deputy Bloodgood serves as a patrol deputy. Deputy Bloodgood is a veteran of the United States Marine Corp and deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sheriff James Lee Berrong and the deputies of the Blount County Sheriff’s Office are proud of Deputy Bloodgood for his actions in February and July 2024 and for continually serving Blount County with honor.

Sheriff Berrong would also like to congratulate Blount County Dispatcher Kris Harris who was also honored Tuesday as the Post’s Telecommunicator of the Year recipient. Kris was also selected as the Department of Tennessee VFW state honoree for Telecommunicator of the Year.

Our thanks to VFW Post #5154 for honoring Deputy Bloodgood. The members of this post provide support and encouragement to our first responder community throughout the year, and for that we are grateful.

Pictured from L to R: Jeff Tegzes, Jr. Vice Commander, Post 5154; Deputy Seth Bloodgood and daughter Abigail; son Levi; and wife Lauren.