HUTCHINS — A police public corruption probe that netted the then-mayor of Hutchins, the city secretary and eight former public works employees have been dismissed without explanation by the office of District Attorney Craig Watkins, News 8 has learned.
Frank McElligott, who until recently served as police chief, believes politics is at play. He says not he nor anyone else in his department were told that the cases were set to be dismissed. In fact, he had been notified that several of the defendants were about to plead guilty.
"The whys and wherefores I don't know, but it sure doesn't look right," said McElligott, who left to take another job with another North Texas police department. "You don't plead to bad cases."
The indictments, which a grand jury handed down earlier this year, were the result of a 16-month investigation in the small town of Hutchins, located in southeast Dallas County.
Former public works director Ronnie O'Brien and seven former public works employees were indicted on a charge of Class A misdemeanor engaging in organized criminal activity over allegations that they sold about 190,0000 pounds of city property, including a school bus, and kept the money. McElligott says he documented an excess of $25,000 in ill-gotten proceeds that was divided among the employees.
Then Mayor Artis Johnson was indicted on two Class A misdemeanors over an incident involving a check. The mayor was accused of having the finance director deposit a $304 check made out to the city, and then having a check issued in the same amount to the former public works director.
City Secretary Janis Daniels was accused of misusing city credit cards and indicted on a Class B misdemeanor charge. McElligott said Daniels used her city credit accounts to make purchases to the tune of at least $2,500. Only about $500 was within the statute of limitations and subject to prosecution.
She and the former mayor have denied wrongdoing.
The dismissals came on Dec. 18, 2014, the same day that O'Brien and two former employees were slated to plead guilty in their cases. The paperwork says the indictments were dismissed "in the interest of justice."
Brian Corrigan, an attorney representing O'Brien said, he doesn't know why the cases were dismissed.
"We were going to enter a plea on a misdemeanor to avoid the risk and expense of a trial," Corrigan said. "It was not what I expected. That was not what was set for the day."
He added that he believes his client shouldn't have been indicted in the first place and said it was the result of "intercity politics."
Scott Palmer, an attorney who represented another of the former public works employees, said he and his client were "surprised and thrilled" by the decision to dismiss the indictments.
"I was surprised but again a formal explanation was not offered and nor did I ask for one," Palmer said.
State Sen. Royce West, who represented the former mayor, told News 8 that his client shouldn't have been indicted in the first place either. He said his client did nothing wrong and he couldn't speculate on why the district attorney's office decided to toss the cases. West has previously said that this was a case of a chief running amok.
The former chief says the public integrity unit prosecutor assigned to the case told him that her boss, Russell Wilson, made the decision to toss the indictments.
"She didn't give me an explanation," McElligott said.
The chief says that O'Brien and six of the employees gave videotaped confessions.
"They were on video with great audio," McElligott said. "According to everyone that did confess, the mayor knew that this was going on. The grand jury was enthusiastic when I explained it to them and they indicted them. There should be no reason to dismiss them."
He found out about the dismissals on Dec. 19, 2014, after he called to find out what had happened with the plea agreements. It was also his final day on the job in Hutchins.
Debbie Denmon, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said in a written statement that "Mr. Wilson has no comment other than the fact that prosecutors have the discretion to dismiss cases when there are problems with the cases that make continued prosecution unwarranted."
McElligott says he was never told of any problems or concerns.
"I think the city of Hutchins deserves an explanation and the residents of the city of Hutchins deserve an explanation," McElligott said.
