Brookville Town Council Special Attorney, and Brian and LIndsay Patterson respond to alleged Snapchats
November 1, 2022 at 8:46 p.m.
Last weekend, photos surfaced alleging Brookville Town Council (BTC) member Brooke Leffingwell sent politically motivated messages on "Snapchat" to a Brookville Police Department (BPD) Officer.
One message read, "Since you are into making controversial arrests today, I need you to nail Patterson on a DUI after the game. His wife just announced she is running against Curtis." The picture shows the sender's name as Brooke Leffingwell.
The message implied Leffingwell asked a BPD Officer to arrest Franklin County Council member Brian Patterson, whose wife Lindsay Patterson ran in the primary election for Indiana House of Representative (District 55) against Dr. David Welsh, John Moton and Curtis Ward. Patterson won the primary and is running unopposed in Tuesday’s election.
The BPD officer who received the snapchats has not been identified.
BTC Special Attorney Tony Saunders provided the following statement regarding the snapchat allegations:
“There is no proof that Brooke sent these, as anyone can change the name of the person from whom they are receiving texts; such spoofing is common.
Both my reading of the law and statements from the state police investigator indicate no crime was committed, irrespective of the origination of these texts.
If people were so worried about these texts, then why was nothing done when they were allegedly sent and only released now?
The release of these texts is part of a pattern of behavior that is designed to intimidate certain board members with regard to their vote on personnel matters. This is a crime under the Indiana Code, and it needs to stop.
The failure to file criminal charges does not mean that there aren't still issues to be reviewed before one or both officers could be considered for reinstatement.”
An investigation was opened by the Indiana State Police stemming from testimony at a Motion to Suppress Hearing regarding evidence collected leading to the arrest of Brookville resident Trevin Thalheimer. After ISP closed the investigation, Special Prosecutor A.J. Bryson of Union County decided no criminal charges would be filed against the officers.
After receiving notification no criminal charges would be filed, Mitchum released the following statement:
"As I previously stated, I was confident no wrongdoing would be found on the part of my department or I. At all times, the Brookville Police Department followed the evidence at hand. I stand by my department's determination of probable cause resulting in the arrest of the parties involved... I believe several factors played part in the distortion of this situation. Due to the national coverage this story has received, I will refrain from further explanation until consulting my attorneys."
Now that the investigation is no longer pending, the town’s safety board was to decide on the reinstatement of BPD Chief Terry Mitchum and Officer Ryan Geiser on Nov. 1. The officers will remain on leave until the safety board determines the action deemed appropriate.
"The safety board is a board organized under Indiana law to deal with matters involving police discipline," Saunders explained. "It is composed of town board members pursuant to the adopting ordinance, but they serve in a different capacity on the safety board and are governed by a different oath."
Brian and Lindsay Patterson also released the following statement:
“We wanted to reach out and let everyone know that we have been made aware of the recent story that was published by the Brookville Reel Media in regards to Snapchat messages from one of Brookville's town board members requesting that the Brookville Police Department have me arrested for political gain. My family and many citizens of Franklin County are saddened and outraged that this political attack occurred. Unfortunately, others have been targeted as well. We should not live in a community where our elected officials use their power to try and ruin others’ lives for their gain.
We have requested that the prosecutor and the FBI, along with the State Attorney General look into these allegations. This was not just an attack on our family but an attack on our community and our rights as Americans.”
Whitewater Publications also reached out to BPD Chief Mitchum for a statement regarding the Snapchats but has yet to receive a response.
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Last weekend, photos surfaced alleging Brookville Town Council (BTC) member Brooke Leffingwell sent politically motivated messages on "Snapchat" to a Brookville Police Department (BPD) Officer.
One message read, "Since you are into making controversial arrests today, I need you to nail Patterson on a DUI after the game. His wife just announced she is running against Curtis." The picture shows the sender's name as Brooke Leffingwell.
The message implied Leffingwell asked a BPD Officer to arrest Franklin County Council member Brian Patterson, whose wife Lindsay Patterson ran in the primary election for Indiana House of Representative (District 55) against Dr. David Welsh, John Moton and Curtis Ward. Patterson won the primary and is running unopposed in Tuesday’s election.
The BPD officer who received the snapchats has not been identified.
BTC Special Attorney Tony Saunders provided the following statement regarding the snapchat allegations:
“There is no proof that Brooke sent these, as anyone can change the name of the person from whom they are receiving texts; such spoofing is common.
Both my reading of the law and statements from the state police investigator indicate no crime was committed, irrespective of the origination of these texts.
If people were so worried about these texts, then why was nothing done when they were allegedly sent and only released now?
The release of these texts is part of a pattern of behavior that is designed to intimidate certain board members with regard to their vote on personnel matters. This is a crime under the Indiana Code, and it needs to stop.
The failure to file criminal charges does not mean that there aren't still issues to be reviewed before one or both officers could be considered for reinstatement.”
An investigation was opened by the Indiana State Police stemming from testimony at a Motion to Suppress Hearing regarding evidence collected leading to the arrest of Brookville resident Trevin Thalheimer. After ISP closed the investigation, Special Prosecutor A.J. Bryson of Union County decided no criminal charges would be filed against the officers.
After receiving notification no criminal charges would be filed, Mitchum released the following statement:
"As I previously stated, I was confident no wrongdoing would be found on the part of my department or I. At all times, the Brookville Police Department followed the evidence at hand. I stand by my department's determination of probable cause resulting in the arrest of the parties involved... I believe several factors played part in the distortion of this situation. Due to the national coverage this story has received, I will refrain from further explanation until consulting my attorneys."
Now that the investigation is no longer pending, the town’s safety board was to decide on the reinstatement of BPD Chief Terry Mitchum and Officer Ryan Geiser on Nov. 1. The officers will remain on leave until the safety board determines the action deemed appropriate.
"The safety board is a board organized under Indiana law to deal with matters involving police discipline," Saunders explained. "It is composed of town board members pursuant to the adopting ordinance, but they serve in a different capacity on the safety board and are governed by a different oath."
Brian and Lindsay Patterson also released the following statement:
“We wanted to reach out and let everyone know that we have been made aware of the recent story that was published by the Brookville Reel Media in regards to Snapchat messages from one of Brookville's town board members requesting that the Brookville Police Department have me arrested for political gain. My family and many citizens of Franklin County are saddened and outraged that this political attack occurred. Unfortunately, others have been targeted as well. We should not live in a community where our elected officials use their power to try and ruin others’ lives for their gain.
We have requested that the prosecutor and the FBI, along with the State Attorney General look into these allegations. This was not just an attack on our family but an attack on our community and our rights as Americans.”
Whitewater Publications also reached out to BPD Chief Mitchum for a statement regarding the Snapchats but has yet to receive a response.