By John Estridge
The Brookville Police Department is being investigated by the Indiana State Police following a Suppression Hearing in Franklin Circuit Court 2 on Tuesday, July 19, leading to charges against two Brookville men being dismissed.
According to a press release provided by the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and FC Prosecutor Chris Huerkamp, the impetus behind the charges was to keep Trevin Thalheimer from running for a Brookville Town Council position.
Huerkamp said that information came out during the suppression hearing.
“In the hearing, a witness testified that she had been contacted by the investigating officer about seeking the vacant town board seat that Thalheimer was pursuing,” Huerkamp’s press release states. “This call was confirmed to have taken place earlier in the same week in which the search warrant was executed. The investigating officer told her that Thalheimer was thought to be anti-police and that she would have the support of the Brookville Police Department if she pursued the seat herself. The witness found the call to be very odd and did not think much of it until she saw in the newspaper the next week that Thalheimer had been arrested by the same officer that had contacted her out of the blue. The investigating officer, in open Court, having been confronted by Defense attorneys and Prosecutor Huerkamp regarding numerous unconventional, but not necessarily improper, steps in the application and execution of the search warrant, eventually acknowledged that the investigation was motivated by political purposes regarding Thalheimer’s candidacy and his purported insufficiently pro-Brookville Police Department views. The investigating officer also claimed that he was directed in his efforts by his superiors, including the additional probable cause arrest and booking for the unrelated investigation from nine-months prior.”
Brookville Police applied for and received a search warrant to search the home of Thalheimer and Garrett Pierce. Brookville Police Officers alleged to have found some drugs during the search.
“On January 30, 2022, members of the Brookville Police served a search warrant on the residence of Trevin Thalheimer and Garrett Pierce,” the press release states. “According to the report that was later forwarded to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, the officers recovered some marijuana, paraphernalia, and legend (prescription-only) drugs. The Brookville officers booked Pierce into jail on charges related to the search warrant execution.”
According to an Information document filed by Huerkamp on February 14, 2022, Thalheimer and Pierce were each charged with a Level 6 Felony, as well as a Class B and a Class C misdemeanor.
Brookville Police Officer Ryan Geiser was noted in the Information documents as the police officer giving the information for the formal charges.
However, police were trying to get Thalheimer on another, much older case with more serious charges.
“Thalheimer, in addition to charges from the search warrant, was also booked into the Franklin County Security Center based on the officers’ assertion of probable cause for an unrelated investigation involving allegations against Thalheimer that had been assigned to another Brookville officer (who had nothing to do with the search warrant investigation) in late May 2021,” Huerkamp states in his press release. “At the time, regarding the nine-month-old allegations, no formal charges were being pursued by the Franklin Prosecutor’s Office and no arrest warrant had been issued. Franklin County Prosecutor Chris Huerkamp had several months prior been apprised of the allegations and presented with the investigating officer’s preliminary report, but neither he nor any member of his staff had been consulted prior to the decision made by members of the Brookville Police Department to assert the nine-month-old allegations as the basis for a probable cause arrest and additional booking charge on January 30.”
No formal charges on the older investigation have ever been filed by the prosecutor’s office.
Pierce had Rushville attorney Paul Barada and Thalheimer hired Brookville attorney Jud McMillin to represent them.
A Motion to Suppress saying the defendants’ Constitutional rights had been violated was filed and the Suppression Hearing was initially set for May 5 but was rescheduled several times at the request of the defense, Huerkamp’s press release states.
After hearing the testimony provided by the witnesses at the Suppression Hearing, Huerkamp joined the defense attorneys in asking the charges be dismissed.
“At the conclusion of the evidence, Prosecutor Huerkamp, who represented the State in the hearing, was compelled to join the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress, and he moved to dismiss both cases on the spot,” the press release states.
Huerkamp, who was also an assistant prosecutor in Hamilton County Ohio prior to moving to Franklin County where he served first as an assistant prosecutor under long-time prosecutor Mel Willhelm, said he has never experienced anything like the actions of the police described by the witnesses at the Suppression Hearing.
Huerkamp has requested a transcript of the hearing and vows to make the transcript public when he receives it from the court. Certain facts in the transcript will be redacted due to privacy issues, Huerkamp said.
“Neither the names of the witnesses who testified at the hearing nor other individuals mentioned in the testimony will be identified by the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office at this time,” Huerkamp said in the press release. “Because the nine-month-old allegations and investigation mentioned previously have not resulted in the filing of any formal charges, no additional details regarding that matter will be released at this time, either.”
Immediately following the hearing, Huerkamp contacted the Indiana State Police and requested that they initiate an investigation of the Brookville Police Department.
Huerkamp asserted the actions alleged in the Suppression Hearing is aberrant to the way the other police agencies associated with the county do their jobs.
“Finally, Huerkamp wanted to make it clear that the actions by one or more members of one department should not reflect upon the excellent work of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police, Batesville Police Department, Department of Natural Resources, and other smaller county agencies,” Huerkamp’s press release states. “Huerkamp noted that the Brookville Police Department is currently the only full-time police agency in the jurisdiction with no recording devices whatsoever—no dash cameras, body cams, or audio.”
So when interacting with Brookville PD use your own cellphone to record.