HARDIN CO.—A lovelorn fire chief who stalked his ex-girlfriend even after they split up two years ago might be the impetus behind any pending charges against Hardin County Board of Education President/successful businessman/philanthropist/county patriarch Jerry D. Fricker.
Fricker, 70, who is the father of Hardin County Sheriff JT Fricker, is the subject of an investigation launched by the county’s prosecutor, Tara Wallace, as early as back in February of this year and maybe earlier.
Wallace, with the help of her office’s investigator, former chief deputy Tom Maynor of Harrisburg, has put together a tenuous case against the elder Fricker (and peripherally involved his son, the sheriff, covered in last month’s issue), in which it’s been alleged—albeit vaguely—that the elder Fricker has been trading pills and money for sex over the past several years from his scrapyard on the highway between Elizabethtown and Rosiclare.
However, what prompted the investigation to begin with is the current subject of intense scrutiny, as it appears that the person responsible for it had his own axe to grind with the elder Fricker…and all on the basis of obsession and complete speculation.
MR filed
On June 21, a miscellaneous remedy case was placed on file in Hardin County by Wallace, requesting that she be removed from the case of Fricker and that a special prosecutor be appointed to it.
The request for the special prosecutor came days after Disclosure forced Wallace’s hand on June 18 in a videotaped interview asking if the sheriff were under investigation by her office, the Illinois State Police, and agents from the FBI, probably in an effort to cover her tracks, as she was caught lying about the investigation on the tape (which can be viewed at Disclosure’s website.)
In a document referencing “The People of the State of Illinois vs. Jerry Dean Fricker,” the initial motion for special prosecutor states that an appointment is needed because “the prosecution of the defendant by the State’s Attorney’s Office could be a conflict of interest for the office, or alternatively, could create the appearance of an impropriety.”
In this case, the petition says the reason for the request is “a conflict of interest for the office.”
Attempt at filing falls flat
Judge Paul Lamar, Hardin County’s resident judge, recused himself in the case early on, and the matter went before the Second Circuit’s chief judge, Steve Sawyer in Wabash County, who granted the motion for special prosecutor “only upon filing of amended motion specifying the offense to be investigated and, depending upon determination by Special Prosecutor, charged and prosecuted, and the date or dates upon which information available to the State’s Attorney would indicate such offense was committed.”
Wallace, who had only been an attorney for a year before she was elected to the office in Hardin, apparently didn’t quite understand how it went, so she was forced to submit the amended filing, which contained some details she overlooked the first time (or was trying to keep from the public.)
This was filed July 2:
“In February 2013, an individual contacted the Hardin County State’s Attorney making allegations of criminal conduct such as soliciting females for the performance of sexual acts and engaging in unauthorized use of federal food stamps against Defendant (Jerry D. Fricker) herein.
“The accused is the father of Hardin County Sheriff Jerry Thomas Fricker, therefore to avoid the appearance of impropriety, the allegations were forwarded to the Illinois State Police for Investigation.
“That Illinois State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have advised the Hardin County State’s Attorney that the investigation is ongoing.
“That any involvement in the prosecution of Defendant would create a conflict of interest for the State’s Attorney.”
She was therefore asking the court to appoint a Special Prosecutor in this cause to determine whether criminal charges should be filed in regards to Jerry D. Fricker.
Still couldn’t do it right
But Wallace still couldn’t get it right.
On July 8, a note appeared on the record sheet of the file, indicating, “per Judge Sawyer,” that he had examined the amended motion, and having found that it “neither specified the offense or offenses to be investigated and possibly charged…or the date or dates of suspected commission of same” as required by the terms of the June 28 entry, the amended motion was stricken on leave to amend on or before July 5.
The note on the record sheet appeared July 8, circuit clerk Nancy Pennell wrote, because the clerk’s office didn’t see the email prior to July 5, so the state’s attorney’s office had no notification until July 8.
Where and how the lag time came in is unknown, unless it had to do with a mid-week holiday in that time frame.
Sawyer gave Wallace leave to amend until July 11.
Disclosure viewed the file on July 15, and no amendment had been made by that time.
It’s unclear where the “case,” such as it is, stands as of press time.
Due to incompetence on the part of Wallace, it may very well have languished into obscurity.
Gestapo tactics and a non-credible source
The detailing of dates, and possible “offenses to be investigated,” might, however, have shown Wallace’s hand more than what she was willing to come off of at this time…and that might be why no filing occurred by the 11th.
Especially given the digging into the matter that Disclosure had been doing, and had pretty much gotten ahead of Wallace and her “investigation” into the spurious claims.
And what Disclosure learned while investigating the matter—about which the paper was tipped in early 2011—brought to light virtual Gestapo tactics on the part of ISP and the FBI being employed against someone, all on the word of a lovelorn man whose obsession over his former girlfriend lead him to concoct some tall tales in order to justify the stalking he was doing, and the case of the ass he was carrying around for Jerry D. Fricker.
Source busts himself with vendetta approach
Disclosure has a very strict policy about not revealing sources in any capacity, under any circumstances, with two very keen exceptions: If a crime has been committed and the paper comes to be in possession of information of the crime; or if someone is using the paper to carry out a personal vendetta or agenda and this intent becomes clear over time.
The situation with Tim Dillard is the latter of the two.
In January of 2011, Dillard sent a series of emails, all filled with desperate and melodramatic tone, about his fiancé (who was not named) and the “first-hand knowledge concerning a school board president that pays young women in both cash and drugs for sexual favors” that he had for the paper.
“This has been going on for many years but has only come to my attention recently,” Dillard, who is now the fire chief for Elizabethtown (the job that another former questionable public official, Ed Conkle, had for so long), wrote on January 22, 2011, “unfortunately for me I became engaged to a young woman around a year ago. All of the information I am in possession of came from her for the most part. She was one and still is one of the girls that goes to his business in the mornings and receives money and pills in return for sexual favors. As recently as two days ago in fact.”
Dillard said he “terminated the engagement” and “yes I am angry but the story I have to tell is true. He pays them in loritabs (sic)…green ones to be specific is what I have heard directly from this girl’s mouth. She denies that she ever did any favors for him but admits that he gave her money whenever she asked for it. Why would a school board president and very successful business owner just give money to a young woman for no reason…he wouldn’t.”
Dillard said that in the past year and a half, his girlfriend told him she’d quit going and stop asking for money, “but I have caught her there repeatedly getting money from him. I found her there three days ago,” he said, waxing loquacious about how she was “no longer part of his life” and that he thought he could help get her on the right path and “straighten her life up, but it was all to no avail as a person cannot be saved if they don’t wish to save themselves.”
Threatened Jerry Dean
Dillard then said he’d called the business and “warned this man once on the telephone not to give her money or pills ever again.
“He denied knowing her at all,” Dillard wrote. “When I told him that I had seen her there talking to him in the mornings to get money, it was then that he recalled, oh yeah I know her…but not well. I told him I had heard what was going on and wanted it to stop, at the very least with this girl. I am a single father with a daughter that is in school. Before you ask why I would even consider dating much less marrying a woman with a sordid past, I will tell you…good women are scarce and raising a child alone is not easy. I did not know (the girlfriend’s) past when I met her and even after I knew her past I thought that maybe it was possible to help her improve herself. But this man called my house and offered her money and loritabs (sic) to be specific. After I asked him to leave her alone as I was trying to get her straightened up.
“He should not be school board president if he pays young girls to strip, for sex, for oral sex. This cannot be allowed to stand any longer. Many many many people down here know of this but everyone is terrified to speak up. His son nearly became sheriff a few months ago.”
Uber dramatic
Then Dillard got uber dramatic.
“I AM PLACING MY LIFE IN DANGER BY TELLING YOU THIS,” he next wrote, in all caps. “How can I help you and my community bring this to an end without destroying mine and my daughter’s life. I have no first hand proof. I have no way to prove it’s happening. BUT I KNOW THAT HE HAS GIVEN HER MONEY FOR SOME REASON AND SHE HAS NEVER PAID HIM BACK,,,HER WHOLE FAMILY KNOWS THIS…EVERYONE THAT KNOWS HER KNOWS HE GIVES HER MONEY AND DRUGS so I can not go to the police. But if you began investigating this…that could very well stop it from continuing.
“I have given you enough hints in this email that you will be able to figure out who both I am and who he is,” Dillard said about an email that carried his full name in the “from” line. “I do not wish to ruin my own life nor that of my daughter’s, but remaining silent is also the wrong thing to do. When good men do nothing evil men prevail.”
Dillard then begged for confidentiality, as such exposure would “ruin not only my life as I own a business in Gallatin County and reside in Hardin County. If he or anyone finds out I did this they will destroy me without hesitation…can you help me investigate this and put a stop to it.”
Dillard then gave his name and his phone number, stating “and what I have revealed is true…I AM SCARED BUT I DONT THINK THIS MAN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE DOING WHAT HE DOES AND REMAIN SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT…I CAN GIVE YOU NAMES OF GIRLS THAT GO THERE AND HAVE GONE THERE…AND UNFORTUNATELY GIRLS THAT STILL DO…THERE ARE MANY OF THEM AND THEY ARE ALL YOUNG WOMEN THAT HE SHOULD BE GUIDING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION…..AND HE ISNT DOING WHAT HE SHOULD BE DOING.”
More whining
In subsequent emails, Dillard continued to beg for anonymity, insisting that his life would be in danger.
In follow up phone calls, he was actually weeping about the situation with the girl he loved so much.
Just a few days later, January 25, 2011, he began coming off names of others who had been “given money for sexual favors” by Fricker, including a Tiffany Dassing (who’d gotten a jailer in trouble at about that time because of inappropriate conduct with her while she was locked up) and Jodee Mabrey.
“None of the girls that go there are ladies,” he wrote; “they are all young, poor. Druggies. And most would write off their claims as untrue… but an eighteen year old girl looked me in the eye and stated…I tried to borrow twenty dollars and had to let him play with my titties. Lowlife white trash or not …I do not think she would have said that about herself if it weren’t true. I could be wrong I guess…maybe he just gives money to girls for nothing…but I truly find that hard to believe…my ex fiancè has been caught personally by me down there at least a dozen times ‘borrowing’ money.”
In another email, Dillard continued to reiterate his stalking maneuvers against the girl, whether he realized that’s what he was doing or not:
“(She) drives a silver 4 door Taurus. It is most identifiable by a oval shaped (rocket) on the back bumper,” he wrote. “It will be down there in front of his office regularly I am sure now that I no longer support her. By this I mean no less than weekly but possibly more. She said once she had to get there before Jerry Junior. Apparently he doesn’t like what’s going on. Would sure screw up an election campaign and I am sure he is planning on running for sheriff again down the road. Be very careful whom you ask about this. My ex lives in the housing projects here in etown now. I forgot the apartment number. But she would most likely leave her place very early. Say seven forty five to eight if she were going to his office to get cash. It has always been early in the mornings that I have caught her down there. Almost always 8-815 am. She’s a dark redhead with fairly long hair. EVERY TIME I CAUGHT HER THERE IT WAS 8-830 IN THE MORNING.”
Pathetic…but facts remain
Many who have heard the rumors, as well as those who’ve had an unfaithful significant other, might sympathize with the somewhat pathetic Dillard.
But some pertinent facts remain:
Dillard never saw any exchange of money or pills for sex or food stamps;
He never saw a sex act;
He followed his ex repeatedly in order to watch her activities, the definition of stalking (keeping under surveillance);
He was bitterly opposed to Jerry D. Fricker continuing in his capacity as a public servant on the school board;
He threatened Jerry Dean Fricker on at least one occasion;
He explained, in phone calls to Disclosure, that he’d hoped to get the law involved but then-state’s attorney Roger Ralph was “never around” or “didn’t seem interested”;
There were NO other people who came forward, despite Disclosure’s best efforts to examine the situation and get to the bottom of it; and
Dillard’s words about the allegations against the elder Fricker were nearly word-for-word what Disclosure was hearing out of Hardin County as regards an ISP/FBI investigation beginning in April 2013, this coming from highly-placed sources in the law enforcement arena.
Background
Further, a pattern developed with Dillard on Disclosure’s website.
In April, when Disclosure first began hearing that the FBI was crawling through Hardin County and questioning people (including Dillard’s former girlfriend), Dillard began logging on to the site and staying logged on for long periods.
When in June it became apparent that Disclosure was conducting its own investigation into what Wallace was doing, Dillard placed on his Facebook page that he would “unfriend anyone who posts anything about Disclosure.” At the same time, he terminated his online subscription after months of recurring payments.
When Disclosure contacted Dillard about his part in the story, his answers were evasive, and he swore he never had spoken with Wallace and had in fact “never met her before.”
He then said he didn’t know anything about the investigation until the FBI had come to his former girlfriend’s door.
When asked how the feds knew to “come to her door,” he clammed up again, and asked “What happens if I answer your question? Is that even legal?” indicating that some upper-level law enforcement agent had lead him to believe that if he spoke with media, he would be “obstructing” their case and that he could get in trouble (NOT true at all; an investigation does NOT trump First Amendment rights to speak to the press).
“I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut or bad things will happen to me, someone through (sic) a rock through my daughters bedroom window while she was standing necked (sic) in front of it getting ready for school,” he messaged Disclosure during this conversation.
Self-aggrandizing ‘hero’
Sources in Elizabethtown advise that Dillard is not only overdramatizing everything, but suffers from a bad case of attention deficit disorder, and has a bad penchant for being one of the self-aggrandizing firefighters the country is plagued with now that the federal government has made heroes of all of them post 9-11 and has bestowed them with plenty of grant money (if terms are met, of course), often leading to incapable people handling very tough jobs, all on a grand scale.
Sources have said that currently, the Elizabethtown Fire Department is under the worst direction in recent memory.
They also advise that Dillard, if he hasn’t “talked” in person to Wallace, likely has emailed and/or called her about this case, as he’s still carrying a chip on his shoulder about the elder Fricker and will talk about it to anyone who will feed his ego long enough to listen.
Attempts to obtain Wallace’s emails and phone calls via FOIA have failed…except for one set of calls from December to January.
Attempts to reach the ex girlfriend have been successful, and she has advised Disclosure that her ex is obsessive and his fears about any perceived “relationship” she has had with the elder Fricker are out of control, even to this day.
She also noted that anything between herself and Fricker was “straight-up friendship” and that this is what she told the FBI when they came pounding on her door…before she sent them packing.
There will be more on that matter in the August-September edition of Disclosure, on stands August 14, 2013.