HARDIN C0.—Yet another Hardin County public official appears to be illegally withholding public documents.
Rosiclare Chief of Police Charlie Lampert could very well be setting the village up for a lawsuit, not to mention be committing a felony himself, as a new state law that went into effect September 8 makes denying public documents a felonious act.
Last month Disclosure began investigating claims that Hardin County State’s Attorney Tara Wallace, who has become known as “Tara-ble Tara,” refused to file charges against a man who, in April, allegedly beat his girlfriend “like a man,” tackled a teenage girl, then went on to cause serious damage (nearly crippling) a little dog the teen’s father owned.
Last month, in order to get an accurate picture from all sides on what exactly happened, staffers traveled to the courthouse in Elizabethtown only to find no documentation in the criminal files whatsoever, lending to the veracity that Wallace indeed intended not to file charges.
When a Freedom of Information Act request was presented to Lampert for the police reports on the incident, he responded by, according to sources, calling his “new favorite buddy,” Tara Wallace.
Wallace reportedly told Lampert to deny the reports and say they are part of an ongoing investigation, an applicable exemption for denying records under FOIA…provided it’s the truth.
This was all done after Wallace told the victims there will be no prosecution and the investigation was closed.
Violence recounted in OP
According to an Order of Protection filed by KaSondra Orona, the girlfriend who was beaten, on April 10, 2014, she and Marcus Joiner, 28, of 712 Main St., Rosiclare, were on their way home (witnesses say they had both been drinking heavily) when Orona told Joiner to “slow the f*ck down.”
“He started calling names, saying ‘Shut up b^tch!” Orona said.
Orona said she and Joiner continued arguing about his “crazy driving” and when they got to the Main Street residence, “He got out of the car and pushed me to the ground and started punching me in the face,” she said. “I screamed, ‘How dare you hit a woman like that!’”
That’s about the time 16-year-old Lauren Smock, who was babysitting Orona’s and Joiner’s six-month-old son, ran out the door to help.
Smock later told authorities she heard Joiner yell “Do you wanna die in front of your family!?” while beating Orona.
From girlfriend, to teen girl, to little dog
When the 16-year-old tried to grab Joiner’s shoulder, Orona said he turned around and tackled the teen like a football player.
“Then he came back to me after I stood up to help my niece and tackled me to the ground and began to choke me,” Orona said. “He asked how it felt to die in front of my family.”
Orona said when Joiner let go of her, she ran into their house and Joiner shoved her into the baby’s bassinet.
“So I grabbed my baby and ran out the door and yelled at Jeremy Davis to come help me,” Orona said. “He got in my car and drove me to my mom’s because I felt my baby was in danger.”
Orona’s brother (who is father of the 16-year-old babysitter), Brandon Smock, was contacted and told what had happened. Smock was at the residence in 10 minutes.
“The cops wouldn’t let me get to Marcus,” Smock said. “I was so upset. They threatened to TASER me so I left and went to the hospital to check on my daughter.”
Smock said while he was talking with his daughter, she told him his little dog Cheech was at the house.
Reports indicate that Joiner was told by deputies to retrieve the dog.
Sheriff JT Fricker said before Joiner came out of the house, Fricker could hear the dog freaking out but thought it was just startled.
Afterward, several individuals came forward and said that Joiner had been bragging about how he picked the little dog up by his legs and slammed him into the floor three times.
Numerous statements handed to Wallace
Despite statements from least half a dozen witnesses, including the 16-year-old, Wallace claims there was not enough evidence to charge Joiner with beating his girlfriend or the teenage girl.
“Everybody involved was drunk,” Wallace said.
In addition, despite multiple statements from people who say Joiner bragged about slamming the little dog on the floor because he thought Brandon Smock had “turned him in over some squirrels he shot,” Wallace says there is no evidence the dog wasn’t injured before Joiner went into the house to get it.
Smock said a vet report shows serious trauma to the little dog.
“I am working with Cheech’s vet to get records showing he was not injured before Marcus touched him,” Smock said.
Exactly what Wallace and her buddy Charlie Lampert are trying to keep the public from knowing is unclear.
Wallace has vowed to destroy Disclosure any way she could after she was busted out in these pages for using the state police and FBI to target the sheriff because he fired his chief deputy, who many say Wallace had more than just a passing interest in.
Wallace is almost sure to be a one-hit wonder as state’s attorney and will most likely shift to real estate legal work once out of office since she has no promise in criminal litigation.
Lampert’s future is more uncertain as he appears to have hitched his wagon to the failed state’s attorney.
This is a piece of art that Brandon Smock, brother of the beaten woman, father of the tackled teen and owner of a little dog named Cheech created and placed on his Facebook page. Smock said someone reported him for the piece and he was banned from Facebook for three days. The suspicion is that Marcus Joiner made the complaint and was whining about the truth being told.