A woman in Tennessee was left stunned last week when she received a call telling her someone had “stolen” her driveway. When she called authorities to report the theft, she told them, “I don’t even really know what I’m reporting.”

The woman, local realtor Paige Batten, purchased the home in October of 2024 with the intention of reselling it. So it was unoccupied when the bizarre theft of her driveway occurred. It wasn’t until she received a call from some potential buyers and their real estate agent that she learned what had happened.

“I had a call on Saturday morning… and she was like, Hey, we’re thinking about putting in an offer. When are you going to finish up the driveway?” Batten told Local 3 News. “And I’m like, well, the driveway had a couple of cracks in it, but we’re not planning on redoing the driveway. And she’s like, well, maybe we’re at the wrong house.”

Paige Batten later learned from neighbors that a truck with a trailer, a dump truck hauling a backhoe, and a king cab truck hauling a backhoe were all at the home on Friday morning. The neighbors who spoke to Local 3 News said they just assumed Batten had contracted them to do the work.

“I actually called the non-emergency number,” said Batten. “I said, I don’t even really know what I’m reporting. So I told her, and she was like, What, like? Everybody just goes, What like? Now everybody’s in shock, and some people have thought it was an AI picture that wasn’t even real. I’m like, no, it’s real, I promise.”

Mystery of the ‘stolen’ driveway solved, sort of

Batten was able to get images of the vehicles that took her driveway from neighbors’ cameras. Using those images, it was determined that they belonged to McSears Concrete Finishing.

It turns out, Donnie McSears, the company’s owner, was surprised as anyone when he found out they were accused of stealing Paige Batten’s driveway. McSears said he believed the home’s owner had asked him to remove the driveway.

“…he reached out to me and wanted the driveway removed and said figure me a price. He said I’m gonna send you 50% before you get started, so I’m still waiting on my first check. I haven’t gotten anything. He also wanted me to pay a $2,000 furniture bill for him,” McSears told Local 3 News.

“On this particular one, they saw it was a vacant home,” said Batten. “And it’s a job they can get done relatively quickly, where their neighbors don’t pay attention. It can happen to realtors, it can’t even happen to people that advertise houses that are for rent, even maybe Airbnbs.”

The same type of scam happened to a woman in Florida in 2024. Unfortunately, in her case, there weren’t any cameras around to record who did it.

McSears Concrete Finishing eventually returned to Batten’s home and repaved the driveway at no cost. “Don’t get scammed. That is the main takeaway. Be extra cautious and careful when you’re trusting somebody you’ve never seen,” McSears said.