You might be a Knox Countian if...

[Sunny]

Mark Harmon takes on Duncan II, again. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/fe...2012/#comments

[kag]

Truly excellent reporting by Jamie Satterfield and the News Sentinel today on KCSO, DA Nichols and Baumgartner. One thing revealed in the story that jumped out at me for obvious reasons is the incident in May 2010 when Knox County Sheriff's Office Detective Brad Hall just happened to "catch" Deena Castleman soliciting at a truck stop. According to Ms. Satterfield's information, Hall and another KCSO deputy did not arrest Castleman. Instead they did as she urged and had some kind of conversation by phone with still active Judge Richard Baumgartner. Again, Castleman wasn't arrested, and no part of the incident is recorded in official KCSO documentation.

But you see, in all of May 2010 - every single day of it- my 18 year old child was in the midst of a horrible, prolonged death. And KCSO Detective Brad Hall was the criminal investigator officially assigned to my son's case. In the entire 38 days Henry fought for his life, Detective Hall never managed to meet him or speak to him even once. To this day, I've never met the man. Halfway through the month of May in 2010, Henry very bravely disclosed specific information to me regarding sexual exploitation of drug addicted young people by older drug dealers taking place in Knox County. My son was on his deathbed, but he wanted to give this information directly to authorities so that - in his own words - no other kids would be hurt. I **immediately** called Detective Hall and explained to him what Henry had disclosed, and told him that Henry wanted to give his information directly to law enforcement. Detective Hall told me that he in no way believed anything my son was saying, and that he had zero intention of coming to the hospital to talk to Henry. Furthermore, he told me that he only handled major crimes, not vice, and that if I wanted to talk to someone, I would have to track down a vice investigator within KCSO or speak to the DA's office. Detective Hall was so dismissive and rude regarding Henry's disclosure of information about sex-for-drugs criminal activity taking place in Knox County, that within 48 hours, I had a written memo hand delivered to DA Randy Nichols, explaining everything about the situation - including Detective Hall's refusal to take the info Henry wanted to give. That memo has vanished, as far as I can tell. And no one ever came to take Henry's info, nor has anyone from KCSO or the DA's office ever asked me anything about what my son told me that horrible afternoon in May 2010.

So if KCSO Detective Brad Hall didn't ever handle sex trafficking cases or information - because that's definitely what he told me when he refused to come take my son's information - how did this high ranking KCSO detective just ***happen*** to be the one in May 2010 to "catch" the woman Judge Baumgartner was actively exploiting in a sex-for-drugs scheme while she was soliciting at some random truck stop?
And why didn't he arrest Castleman or document the incident in any way? What did Judge Baumgartner say to Detective Hall in that phone call? What did Hall and the other KCSO deputy who was with him tell their superiors about what they'd seen and heard?

I've written a new blog post at Justice for Henry this morning asking these questions and more:

http://justiceforhenry.com/2012/02/k...ty-pill-trade/

I hope some Blabbers will take the time to read it.

Katie, Henry Granju's mama

[Scott Barker]

...The News Sentinel asked the Sheriff's Office a series of detailed questions, including whether Driskell's supervisors were indeed notified of the pill exchanges, whether they acted upon that information or notified administrators about it and whether the agency has or intends to conduct an internal affairs probe into what employees knew and whether other employees may have been demanded pills by Baumgartner. Biggs fielded the questions on behalf of Sheriff Jones.
Biggs' response: "We don't believe there's any merit to your questions..."


You really gotta read the whole piece. A few officials in our county's legal system have deniability - though not plausible deniability - but those in sheriff's dept aren't among them. Nobody - nobody - comes out of this looking good.

Kudos to Jamie for an excellent piece of journalism.

[Tess]

Kudos to Jamie for an excellent piece of journalism.

Indeed. And, very brave of her. I hope this is the beginning of the end for the obvious corruption in Knox County government. I am encouraged by Tim Burchett and his actions regarding Gloria Ray's contract and hope he will call in and support an investigation by the TBI/FBI/Dept. of Justice, etc.

[Jamie Satterfield]

Just to clarify, Castleman was cited in the truck stop incident. Hall and Scalf were working off duty security jobs at the truck stop. I didn't include the off-duty bit because it didn't add anything to the overall story. Thanks for the compliments.

[pages]

Just to clarify, Castleman was cited in the truck stop incident. Hall and Scalf were working off duty security jobs at the truck stop. I didn't include the off-duty bit because it didn't add anything to the overall story. Thanks for the compliments.

Well, it does explain why Hall was there when he told Kag he didn't work sex cases.

[Scott Barker]

I find it interesting that the sheriff's office didn't answer questions for Satterfield's article but now KCSO spokeswoman Martha Dooley is posting in the comments section of the story.

[pages]

I find it interesting that the sheriff's office didn't answer questions for Satterfield's article but now KCSO spokeswoman Martha Dooley is posting in the comments section of the story.

Wow. I don't wade into the comments, but that is interesting.

[kag]

Thanks for the clarification. However, I still find the situation questionable from multiple angles - whether you consider it in the context of my dying 18 year old son's case (Hall's case at that very moment in time), or only as it relates to the overall KCSO cover-up your excellent reporting has revealed.

Funny how Hall won't take info on allegations of human trafficking from a victim in his own case while on duty as a KCSO detective, but he was willing to get involved in a human trafficking situation when he was being paid privately by a trucking company. All I asked was that he come take the info from Henry. He refused. All Deen Castleman asked was that he speak to Judge Baumgartner by phone. He agreed.

[kag]

I find it interesting that the sheriff's office didn't answer questions for Satterfield's article but now KCSO spokeswoman Martha Dooley is posting in the comments section of the story.

Scott, Welcome to my world for the last horrific 30 months. -

Katie