Judge orders 9 scammers to stay away from Nashville’s tourism district

There’s a crackdown happening on scammers who have been targeting tourists and drunk people in Nashville’s tourism district. 

The problem got bad enough that Metro police took the situation to the courts. Judge Steve Dozier took the rare move of banning nine people from the Lower Broadway area. The court drew a “safety zone” that is roughly 40 square blocks surrounding Lower Broadway.

Police say the gang’s main scheme has been pretending to be sell clothing to get access to victims’ phones to make money transfers. Conflicts have led to assaults — and police say individual arrests haven’t stopped the group. 

Five of the nine people have agreed to the court order and additional hearings are pending for the others. 

— Tony Gonzalez