And he wasnt even close to Chris in any way. Lewis has also been accused-both formally and informally-of numerous other breaches of the law and his ethical duty as a law . So, lets just say, a hypothetical. Skip Hollandsworth: Did you come across any evidence suggesting something like that might have happened? You might remember from earlier episodes of the podcast that I spoke to various people about Toms personal struggles. And if she did have her sons phone, how exactly did she get it? With a winning margin of roughly 7,800 votes in the November election, Harmon said he was ecstatic to have been chosen by the county's residents . If Penny and her family seemed to be the target of the attorney generals investigation, why would they want a grand jury to be convened? It wasnt until later that night that I considered the allegations that Lewis, Kading, and Smyth had leveled against her. He was wearing glasses. Sheriff Lewis Tatum 298 Rosemont, Sulphur Springs 75482 HOUSTON COUNTY Sheriff Randy Hargrove Sr. 700 A South 4th Street, Crockett 75835 HOWARD COUNTY Sheriff . Texas Vista Medical Center to close May 1, Cold front brings chances of storms and gusty winds to San Antonio, Severe thunderstorms southwest of San Antonio with a chance for more Thursday | FORECAST. Or did they believe something else had happened to Tommaybe something that was covered up by members of his family? MARTINSBURG Another step taken before he officially assumes office on Jan. 1, Berkeley County Sheriff-elect Nathan Harmon took his oath of office in front of a federal judge Thursday afternoon. In August 2019, Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis received a visit from a couple of officers from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the regulatory agency for all peace officers in the . The Dollar General is next door to Fronks gas station, the last place Thomas was known to have gone to get gas before disappearing. SHARE. The TCOLE investigation found many of the hours of supposed training were missing, backdated, or simply wrong. . This is ridiculous., In a statement released to the public, Lewis wrote, I am very happy and humble for the great things weve accomplished in the three years as sheriff. You all did fantastic. It was said he had been murdered, stuffed into a wood chipper by a notorious methamphetamine dealer. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. He is a very unreliable witness. Someone else claimed they saw her driving down Main Street, past the Justice for Tom signs. You might remember that only weeks after that fateful Thanksgiving eve, Penny had asked a couple of Toms friends if they knew the password to Toms phone, which was then still believed to be missing. I asked Kading about one of Kleins stories: that Tom possibly had been shot in the football stadium parking lot. Philip Klein: I see it; I hear it. Caan requested the original audio statements Hemphill County deputies interviewed made to TCOLE investigators. According to a report produced in October, TCOLE was alerted to allegations of document fabrication against Sheriff Lewis by then . But she got choked up and couldnt continue. It is the longstanding practice of the 31st Judicial District Attorney to not present suspicious deaths to a Grand Jury if evidence shows the death was the result of a suicide.". Rachel Kading: No; its irresponsible to do so. Shes not. Eight months later, in October 2017, his iPhone was found during a search of Lake Marvin Road that had been organized by Philip Klein. Part of the town thinks it could be an accidental death. There were dark, ugly stories that the countys young sheriff, Nathan Lewis, was involved in Toms disappearance. Its kind of hard to pick up and leave that. We need to heal as a community and basically get away from all this., Lewis said he and the other deputies had actually completed their training hours but that he had simply submitted the reports incorrectly. He had told a few close friends he was afraid that people in Canadian would hear that he sometimes liked wearing adult diapers. Had Penny taken the phone from Tom the night he disappeared? Oct 27, 2021. Klein, of course, had floated certain motives in the past. How was it amusing to dress up as the person youd accused of being involved in your sons disappearance or murder? Kading decided to have the polygraph examiner ask Penny and Chris about the phone. Bring on the Shiplap? Thats like a movie, he said. In August 2019, Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis received a visit from a couple of officers from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the regulatory agency for all peace officers in the state. Vale man injured after pickup crashes through fence at West Cedar Road home. Merriam Woods Police Chief Nathan Lewis has been fired. Caroline Gear: And when he took the goggles off, are you telling me that Thomas was still alive? Lewis said he never heard from her. The documents were for Deputy Jerri-Lynn Ortega, Oscar Ortega, himself and Pyne Gregory. According to 31st District Attorney, Franklin McDonough, the case was rejected for lack . But none of the physical evidence seemed to make any sense. ABC 7 was the first to report the 31st District Attorney, who oversees Hemphill County, wrote a letter saying Sheriff Lewis was the subject of an investigation by the Texas Rangers. Then on the night of Nov. 24, 2016, Thomas Brown suddenly vanished. I want to say this to the public and Ive said it before and Ill say it again: This was not an intentional homicide, he said. 8, 2019 at 4:19 AM PDT. The Deputies serve all court papers. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I don't think it's nothing. ET on Friday, February 24, according to a booking report obtained by Us. I dont know where it is. I began to wonder if anyone would ever learn the truth about what had happened to Tom. Rachel Kading: Yes. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. And his story hasnt changed once. Im just wasting my time. Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis has sent an appeal to the Texas Attorney General's Office, requesting that it take over the . steven orr. Its late October, 2021, and two hundred people are packed into a meeting hall in the small town of Canadian, Texas, to hear the latest news regarding Tom Brown, who mysteriously disappeared nearly five years earlier. And then you go to trial for that homicide. Ready? And one of the biggest rumors now making its way through town was that the private investigator Phillip Klein had new evidence linking Lewis to Toms murder. CANADIAN, Texas (KFDA) - The Hemphill County Sheriff in the swirl of controversy resigned today. Skip Hollandsworth: And did you find any evidence that suggested he was not home all night? The Hemphill County Sheriff's Office became a Contract Training Provider on April 26, 2017. Heres Chris talking long-distance to Caroline Gear on a prison telephone. Or he had been murdered by one of the friends who had gone cruising with him. And he pulled a gun on me. Keep reading as Wonderwall.com takes a look back at celeb mug shots over the years. They held signs that read Justice for Thomas Brown. Penny told me she was still hoping to persuade the district attorney to convene a grand jury and force witnesses to testify under oath. When she does, she said, she feels like she gets PTSD or something, especially when she drives around town, following the route she and her friends used to call Toms loop., I wonder what I could have done for Tom if I had stayed around a little bit longer [that night], she said. And hes like, Are you ready? Im like, Man whats going on? So I take off the goggles and he hits these lights, and theres Toms sitting in front of ustheres Toms sitting in front of us; hes in a chair. For those of you that do not know Penny, Penny is the mother of Thomas Brown. Indeed, as the meeting began, Klein teased that he was ready to reveal everything. Klein said in the past there was evidence missed by the sheriff's team, including blood in Thomas's SUV and a shell casing from a . Theres been a lot of stories. At one point, he said he had received information that Tom had been accidentally shot by another teenager in the parking lot of the high school football stadiumand that the teenagers father, as well as Sheriff Lewis, had helped hide Toms body to avoid a scandal. I thought we did everything right. Sheriff Nathan Lewis, Hemphill County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse, Henderson County Sheriff Rodney B. Watson, Hill County Sheriff Roger Deeds, Hood County If you have completed an application hard-copy, it will need to be turned in to the Human Resources Office of Jackson County at 10 S Oakdale, Room 200, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Lewis has been involved in the case of once missing Canadian teenager Thomas Brown and was recently reprimanded by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) for the false documentation of training hours. Panhandle radio host Chris Samples spent his entire three-hour morning show lambasting the private investigator. Leave them blank to get signed up. Nathan Heller / New Yorker: The End of the English Major . This past January,five months after the state attorney generals office suspended its investigation into Toms death because of a lack of evidence, I got a call from a source in Canadian who told me that Rachel Kading was back in town. The . This call is hard to hear, but youll get the gist. A continuously updated summary of the news stories that US political commentators are discussing online right now. . Panhandle region of The State of Texas. Our hope at that time was that if we did this, maybe the truth would come out. Rachel Kading: I always hope that that will happen, and Ill never lose that hope. All rights reserved. And former deputy Pyne Gregory has a gun to Tom Browns head. Klein told me he had been talking to a couple of the towns residentshe wouldnt identify them or tell me their ageswho were feeding him an entirely new story about what had happened on Thanksgiving eve 2016. Tucker said he was already so distraught over Toms death that he was worried his answers would come across as evasive. I want all of you to think: What if it was your child? Investigators with the Texas Attorney Generals Office agreed to review Thomass case in 2018. Let me tell you this. Shelby County Sheriff Kevin W. Windham reports the arrest of David Nathan Lewis and Beverly Kay Hurst, both of Timpson. Which, impossible. Additional production on this episode by Harper Carlton and Patrick Michels. Why, Kading wanted to know, would Penny ask for the phones password unless she had the phone in her possession all along? Skip Hollandsworth: Has he said, You know what, Im tired of the public scrutiny, lets get out of Canadian?. But its doubtful Lewis found much time to relax. And who, if anyone, other than Tom positioned his body under the cottonwood trees? Penny Meek on the Walking Bridge in Canadian. VALE - On Sunday night, Judith Obermeier wanted to find a good place in her yard to plant . If it was not a law enforcement officer that actually pulled the trigger, it was somebody thats connected close to law enforcement who was willing to help clean up a mess., I asked Klein why a law enforcement officer would want Tom dead. . Philip Klein: Five times! Nov 6, 2019. 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