Neighbors Shocked by Suspected Rapist

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Bruce Tuck lived in Atoka before moving back to Gleason, where police picked him up Wednesday. Neighbors remember the man as being a volunteer firefighter, but they also have other memories of the man now accused of rape.

Shocked. Surprised. The usual reaction when you find out someone who lived so close to you is accused of a crime so serious. Now, a former neighbor is remembering her first personal encounter with Bruce Tuck.

"He caught me in the driveway," she remembers.

Campaigning for constable is when Rayna McGaughy remembers running into her neighbor, Bruce Tuck, for the first time.

"He was running for Constable, and he stopped by to ask if we would vote for him, and I didn't know him, so I was very noncommittal," says McGaughy.

During his pitch, Tuck was talkative, friendly, and personable.

"He would get very close; he would tend to invade personal space."

But something wasn't right with him, McGaughy remembers.

"He just kept inching closer and closer as he would talk, he seemed very friendly, but I was not comfortable with the way he would get close to me."

So she backed off, and ended the conversation quickly. That was back in 2006. She hasn't seen him in years, until Wednesday.

"I was absolutely floored because you just don't think about it, it happens in other people's neighborhoods, not yours."

Tuck was arrested in Martin, Tennessee, 100 miles away, at his parent's home, accused of rape. Police believe he may be connected to a string of rapes that spanned the summer in West Tennessee.

"If he is the one who has been doing all this, then absolutely, then he needs to be off the streets."

Off camera, neighbors say Tuck made unwanted advances toward a female next door neighbor, earlier this year. It started with text messages. She took her complaints to Atoka police, but a formal report was never filed.