HARDIN CO.—A bizarre turn of events involving a well-known criminal in Hardin County sent a man to the hospital in mid-September…but the circumstances under which the situation occurred are so strange, it’s hard to know who to root for or who to vilify.
Gideon Frailey, no age or address given in Hardin County documents (although records from neighboring counties show that he’s 23 and has at least at some point hailed from Cave-in-Rock), was charged Sept. 21 with a count of Aggravated Battery. The count stemmed from an incident on Sept. 18 during which, court documents show, he “knowingly caused great bodily harm to Gary Atkinson, in that he held him down while Frailey struck him with a closed fist repeatedly and kicked him in the face and abdomen area, causing Gary Atkinson to suffer a broken nose.”
Charged along with Frailey in the Aggravated Battery was a friend, Dylan M. Adkisson (also no age/address given in Hardin court documents), who was charged with “knowingly causing great bodily harm to Atkinson by holding him down while Frailey struck him with a closed fist and kicked him in the face and abdomen, causing Atkinson to suffer a broken nose.”
The beating occurred in Cave-in-Rock; and as a result of it, Atkinson had to be flown out to an out-of-state hospital for treatment.
Frailey and Adkisson were arrested with a $50,000 bail ($5,000 cash bond).
Drunked-up, and with justification?
Reportedly, the two had gotten drunked-up at a local watering hole on that night, and, with alcohol-fueled testosterone, decided they would go beat Atkinson because of the circumstance Atkinson was facing at the time: He was under charges dating back to July over three June incidents of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a girl under the age of 17/older than 13.
As it turned out, that girl was Frailey’s sister, Coralee…which, apparently, he felt, justified the physical abuse allegedly inflicted on Atkinson.
Atkinson, 24, was charged July 17 with incidents of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse dated June 23, June 26 and June 28. It was unclear how any complaint originated, such as whether it came from Coralee herself, or if someone just “learned” about the alleged activity and reported it to authorities, as Coralee is 14 and Atkinson is 24.
Getting stranger…
But it gets stranger.
Adkisson was himself under charges of the same thing as Atkinson, Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, when he allegedly inflicted the beating on the older man.
As a result, Adkisson was charged Sept. 21 with a violation of bail bond in that, after having been admitted to bail on August 7 for appearance in court October 30 and while so charged, he “knowingly violated a condition of that release in that he committed the felony offense of Aggravated Battery against Gary Atkinson.”
His bail on that count was set at $1,500.
And even stranger…
But it gets even stranger.
Subsequent to his beating, somehow, charges against Atkinson were dismissed.
It’s unclear if Coralee had anything to do with that (perhaps reneging a complaint), or if the local law just felt sorry for him having his butt thumped so badly that they let it go.
Whatever the case, the whole issue made all of Hardin come to life with opinions on it, considering the players in the matter, and brought forward discussion of the level of crime occurring all around the county of the nature that Atkinson was charged with in conjunction with his ‘relationship’ with a 14-year-old girl.
There had been an incident predating the beating that involved a window getting busted out of a Cave-in-Rock home that was said to have been in conjunction with what happened to Atkinson, but no charges have been filed against it; however, as the act was reportedly done as a “threat,” some locals are upset that law enforcement didn’t take it more seriously and do some investigating into how it happened/who might have done it, and, had that taken place, Atkinson might not have gotten beaten.
However, if he hadn’t gotten beaten, he might not’ve had charges against him dismissed.
As well, if neither he nor Adkisson had been out on bail, that would’ve left the ill-tempered Frailey all on his own looking for trouble.
Frailey can find trouble, for sure
Not that he isn’t able to adequately find it.
The young punk is noted for the burglary and thefts he was charged with in June of 2001 of both Gee Jay’s and Kaylor’s Café in Cave-in-Rock…and the debacle that surrounded the county sheriff, Joyce Cullison, when a jury couldn’t be found for his trial in the matter in July of this year, and Cullison was reported to have gone around the county trying to round up people to serve, or at least run in those who had received summonses for jury duty.
It didn’t help that Cullison was reportedly a distant relative of Frailey’s, as well.
Frailey was placed on probation for the theft count on July 17 of this year and was on pay-or-appear status for it, with a petition to revoke having been filed Sept. 20.
Upcoming court appearances for both Frailey and Adkisson were pending as of press time.