RICHLAND/WHITE COs. – The brother of the White County sheriff has been charged in Richland County with a meth crime.
Bradley W. Maier, 49, of South State Street in Crossville (White County), the brother of three-term White County Sheriff Doug Maier, was charged on December 12 with a single count of Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine when, on or about Dec. 11, at a location in the 1600 block of North Freedom Road in Noble (Richland County), authorities state he knowingly possessed less than five grams of a substance containing meth.
The charge is a Class 3 felony.
Court documents don’t show what the circumstances were that brought the attention of authorities to Maier; however, there is no traffic ticket on file, so it appears that it at least wasn’t a traffic stop.
Tambra S. Rudy posted the $3,000 cash bond for Maier, and she shows the same 1600 block of North Freedom Road in Noble that was the scene of his arrest.
Maier, however is displaying his South State Street, Crossville address on the bond form.
It’s unclear who Rudy is in the scheme of things, but in an interesting twist, a White County Order of Protection was filed by Maier himself, this against his wife in Crossville.
On Dec. 1, Brad Maier took out an OP against his 50-year-old wife Becky Maier.
On his petition for OP, he states very simply his desire for the protection order is based on the description of incidents, “Following me and threatening me.”
That OP was granted on an emergency basis on the day it was filed, and Becky Maier was notified of it the next day.
A plenary (two-year) hearing was set in the case for Dec. 16 in White County.
On that date, the matter was dismissed. It’s unclear whether the two reconciled, or whether the Mister Maier is back living with the Missus in Crossville.
Brad Maier is no stranger to being on the other side of the law from his brother.
His criminal history in White County at least stretches back to 1996 with a felony Aggravated Battery conviction.
That was followed by an Aggravated Battery of a Pregnant Person felony conviction in 1997.
In 2000, he was convicted of a Felon Failure to Return from Furlough.
With three felonies under his belt in White, Maier seemed to calm down a bit…until these two most recent events.
Reached for comment on his brother’s situation in advance of this publication, Doug Maier, one of the most open and media-friendly sheriffs in downstate Illinois, was very matter-of-fact about Brad Maier’s arrest and charges.
“Well, it is what it is,” Sheriff Maier said, acknowledging that his brother has had some problems in his life, but there should be no preferential treatment shown.
In Richland County, Brad Maier is set for a January 10 preliminary hearing in front of new judge, Mike Valentine.
Maier is being represented by Richland’s public defender, Todd Rietz.