It could be five years from today. Posted by Sheriff Nathan T. Johnson on Monday, December 20, 2021 Skip Hollandsworth: And he did not take one. If Lewis had assisted with a cover-up, that would explain some of the so-far unexplainable details. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. . Sherburne County Sheriff's Report. Skip Hollandsworth: There was a moment last night when I thought, This story will never come to an end. Has that occurred to you? He said he was trying to get a confession, either from one of the boys who had allegedly killed Tom in the high school parking lot or from one of the men the boys had called to ask for help. A Steuben County man is dead following a snowmobile accident Saturday in Lewis County, east of Watertown in northern New York. 0:59. I think they were panicked, as they realized we were going to release some new information thats never been released about the Tom Brown case today, including a possible manner of death. Fact! Okay. And the sheriff told them to do what? I asked. [SBM] Sheriff Lewis did announce recently he would not seek re-election in 2020 and when former Deputy Clapp announced he would run for the office, Sheriff Lewis endorsed him. Nevertheless, he decided to quit anyway. The attorney generals office, however, did release a 249-page report that Kading had compiled about the case, which perhaps offered a few hints about what she was thinking. Calls the district attorneys office about the status of Thomass case and if it will go a grand jury have so far not been returned. Lewis resigned from his post after being formally reprimanded by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) for falsifying training records. 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? After officials executed a warrant to search the house, they found a felony amount of methamphetamine (2.02 pounds) along with multiple firearms. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Skip Hollandsworth: So, you have a theory. Pictured: Nathan Lewis, former Sheriff of Hemphill County, TX. Skip Hollandsworth: Tucker was asked by you to take a lie detector test. Lewis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Updated: Oct. 26, 2018 at 7:57 PM PDT. We have theories, obviously. Due to the poor quality of the recording, Holmes recapped what Jones said. Lewis resigned as Hemphill County sheriff in November 2019. Rachel Kading: There is no evidence that he went to the football parking lot. The report concluded Sheriff Lewis failed to educate himself on the TCOLE rules and laws and that he violated his contract. Eight months later, in October 2017, his iPhone was found during a search of Lake Marvin Road that had been organized by Philip Klein. Philip Klein: And were gonna tell you about the manner of death. Kading was, however, spotted in Salem Abrahams downtown office interviewing one of his employees, who happened to be the woman whod found Toms cellphone. Bring on the Shiplap? Klein did tell me he was still seeking evidence to support the most recent of the many theories he has floated about the case. Last month, the Texas Rangers and the Texas attorney general's office . And who, if anyone, other than Tom positioned his body under the cottonwood trees? I believe only on Pennys, not on Chriss. Chris said that Sheriff Lewis let him go, but made it clear that Chris would be shot the next time he didnt follow orders. Im just wasting my time. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. I dont understand where he comes up with stuff like this. And let me tell yall something. CANADIAN - An investigative firm hired by the family of missing Canadian teen Thomas Brown believes that he may not have left on his own, according to a press release from the private . . Nathan Lewis has been released from his role as Hemphill County Sheriff. Bradley Bernard Pierson, 33 of Elk River, MN 55330 for GM 2nd Degree DWI. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Theres been just a lot of conjecture in the case, and it harmed it, honestly. Dogs subsequently lost the trail as the terrain changed into boggy marshland. You were certain of that? If you go through a grand jury and you have an indictment, but you dont have enough to convict somebody at trial, its just not ethical to do that. HUGE NEWS IN THE TOM BROWN CASE! 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. And when I went to see Penny in October, the day after Kleins meeting, she remained adamant that she, Chris, and Tucker had not moved Toms body. We just didnt pop that theory in our minds. Skip Hollandsworth: Do you feel like people want you to quit and leave town so people will forget, so Canadian can get past the Tom Brown episode? Chris Samples: Welcome in to the program; it is Thursday, October the twenty-first. Hemphill County Judge George Briant said Nathan Lewis submitted his resignation shortly before five this evening. Will we ever know who parked Toms Durango by the water treatment plant? February 22, 2023 - 9 . According to Chris, Lewis told him that he wanted him to transfer to Canadian and play football for the Wildcats. Investigators said they could not determine whether Thomas Brown's death was homicide, suicide or due to natural causes because so few of his remains were found. Her attorney filed 10 . The bullets shell casing landed on the trucks floorboard. "Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis has let go of his Chief Deputy, Brent Clapp, as of Monday. The origins of constitutional sheriff ideology are in the two concepts of the county supremacy movement: the county and not the state or federal governments should control all land within its borders, and the county sheriff is the ultimate law enforcement authority in the U.S. At the town hall meeting in October, thats exactly what Klein speculated. A few months passed. . She pulled out her phone. I was just fed up with going through all this stuff and all the lies and all the rumors and social media, and so I just said, Im done with this. Nov 6, 2019. 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. My word to you is this: spend time with your family and enjoy everything God is giving you.. Jones identified then-Sheriff Nathan Lewis as the enforcer for a high-dollar gambling ring in Canadian that was betting on the outcome of Wildcat football games. You need to catch up some supplements. Philip Klein: Five times! Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. The day after the meeting, everyone of course was talking about Kleins latest story. Over at the Walking Bridge, I watched a freight train hurtle down the tracks. When you write reports a year and after because why? The exact location of the remains has not been released. Panhandle radio host Chris Samples spent his entire three-hour morning show lambasting the private investigator. The attorney general announced in August 2019 there was no foul play in his death. Nathan Lewis now denies that this photo ever . Texas sheriff under investigation for routinely seizing cash from undocumented immigrants. Whats unethical about that? Just about everyone assumed he would announce the names of the teenager and the father who were involved in the parking-lot shooting. This page was created to raise awareness of Tom's case and to spread the word throughout social media. He suspected she then hid the body out of shame, perhaps even persuading her husband or her older son to help her. And one of the questions was, Do you know the current location of his body?. My husband did not do anything to Thomas. Rachel Kading: If they possessed Toms phone after his disappearance. Its really funny. The former reality star was charged . Skip Hollandsworth: Youve agreed to sit down. Cover it up, Klein said. The media is making us look horrible. According to a report produced in October, TCOLE was alerted to allegations of document fabrication against Sheriff Lewis by then . You had multiple indictments that could be made. The Hemphill County Commissioners Court will appoint a replacement. Chris? Sheriff's . They remain at the Texas lab in case they are needed for evidence. Lewis resigned as Hemphill County sheriff in November 2019. He will only say this: This is kids playing around and they shouldnt have and they know it shouldnt happen, Klein said. Who placed his cellphone near Lake Marvin Road? Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Is that correct? . Over the past 29 years, Klein said his company has investigated around 1,000 missing person cases with an 85 percent . Paxton ruled in December that Hemphill County Sheriff's Office must comply with an open records request filed in October by an attorney for Penny Meek, Brown's mother. We were told that he would not be taking one. The Texas Rangers accuse Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson of felony-level theft by a public servant and abuse of official capacity, according to the Texas Tribune. Skip Hollandsworth: Chris Meek, her husband, was asked the same set of questions, correct? Heres Chris talking long-distance to Caroline Gear on a prison telephone. . Canadian, Texas New public documents reveal the reason why Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis was investigated by the Texas Rangers. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. HEMPHILL COUNTY, TX (KFDA) - Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis is under investigation by the Texas Rangers, according to the Texas Department on Public . She did not answer the question. She replied that she too now believes it might be a mystery that will never be solved. In the first months after Toms disappearance, she said, I was pretty sure that Nathan Lewis had something to do with it. CANADIAN, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) The investigation of Hemphill County Sheriff, Nathan Lewis, has been closed. And if she did have her sons phone, how exactly did she get it? Philip Klein: Where I want the public to see that these people had nothing to do with the disappearance of Tom. Furious with Klein, some members of the audience let loose. A couple of years later, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to thirty years in prison. 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 . According to Klein, Toms killer pushed Tom into the back seat, drove out to Lake Marvin Road, dumped Tom under the thicket of cottonwood trees, cleaned the blood from the Durangos interior, and drove back into town to find a place to stash the car. We have some evidence from what some witnesses are telling us.. Now his family's fight for answers may be leading to another dead end. Read earlier chapters and learn more about the. Were here to figure out how an eighteen-year-old died. By the train tracks. Klein said the person with the pistol had no desire to shoot Tom. 8, 2019 at 4:19 AM PDT. The TCOLE is responsible for verifying that officers fulfill their continuing education requirements, and the officers informed Lewis that the agency would be investigating allegations that he had committed document fabrication by submitting reports that falsely detailed training hours completed by three deputies and himself. Thomas was a high school senior, class president, and state champion football player when he went missing the day before Thanksgiving in 2016. He said whenever I looked at the video from the Dollar General there wasn't anything on there, so I threw it away.". Skip Hollandsworth: And did you find any evidence that suggested he was not home all night? He was just wanting to give Tom a little scare. At the end of the report, it states Lewis was very apologetic for all the mistakes and trouble the training issue caused. If Penny had indeed found and moved Toms body, that would also mean she knew her son was dead when she sent all those texts to his phone. Rachel Kading: I think that collectively as a group, at the AGs office, we just felt that it was important to put out some facts. Tucker said he was already so distraught over Toms death that he was worried his answers would come across as evasive. OVER THE PAST nearly two months, I've filed a handful of public information requests with 31st District Attorney Franklin McDonough's office and the Texas Rangers, attempting to determinefirst, what criminal complaint had been lodged against Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis that led to his investigation by the Texas Rangers, and more recently, what the result of that . Many expected a grand jury to be called. Box 233 Lowville, NY 13367-0233 Telephone: (315) 376-3511 Fax: (315) 376-5232 Livingston County Sheriff's Department 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. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Unsolved true crime podcast researched, written and hosted by Crime Analyst Leah Owens. Is that not the most bizarre thing? It showed no signs of damage from rain or ice storms, which meant it had to have been planted shortly before the search began. And his point is, You know what, I got nothing to lose. Penny Meek on the Walking Bridge in Canadian. City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. Penny told Kading that she was mistaken. Klein knew that there were plenty of people in the audience who were suspicious of Penny, who is a longtime elementary school teacher in Canadian. Had Penny taken the phone from Tom the night he disappeared? During another conversation, Klein acknowledged that his sources had told him the law enforcement officer was Lewis. I wasn't supposed to take over until January. (LogOut/ What Chris is saying is that Lewis had told the teenager hed be killed if he didnt move to town and play for the Canadian Wildcats. Pictured: Nathan Lewis, former Sheriff of Hemphill County, TX. A continuously updated summary of the news stories that US political commentators are discussing online right now. Chris then claimed that in the early evening hours of Thanksgiving Dayless than 24 hours after Tom had disappearedLewis came to see him again. Give me those damn remains? What am I going to do? In the meantime, Philip Klein let everyone know he was still pursuing leads. Skip Hollandsworth: And. I began to wonder if anyone would ever learn the truth about what had happened to Tom. According to the case report, the documents Lewis provided to support the training hours were dated September 18, 2018, but were created later. An improvised explosive device, or IED, exploded shortly after a school official found it at Rossiter Elementary School in Helena, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office reported. Listening to her read the texts, I teared up myself. After speaking with Lewis again, the former sheriff explained he considered on-the-job duties as training, saying quote, If [theyre] doing stuff to get the hours, then I am going to give them the hours.. Please pray that Toms killer is found and brought to justice. And at the bottom of the sign was Toms photo. After obtaining enough information, SCSO investigators completed and served a Manufacturing and Delivery of a Controlled Substance (F . Skip Hollandsworth: So up in Canadian, as we speak, right now, half that town thinks he was murdered. Tom Browns Body is a Texas Monthly production. That weekend, the Wildcats were in the state football playoffs, and Chris said that Lewis told him the gamblers were banking on a Wildcat victory. Holy moly., Lewis said hed never gotten a call from anybody saying there had been a shooting at the high school football stadium parking lot and that he never told anyone to hide Toms body on Lake Marvin Road. Hemphill County Judge George Briant said Nathan Lewis . It wasnt until later that night that I considered the allegations that Lewis, Kading, and Smyth had leveled against her. 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. In the fall of 2016, Tom was still playing football for the Canadian High Wildcats. And Im like, what you got to show me? Did you ever find out where Chris was? Someone else claimed they saw her driving down Main Street, past the Justice for Tom signs. Turnout down, especially among Dems. She knows something. Chris Jones: He pushed me in the back of his cop car. 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. While he was interviewed, Lewis gave four documents to investigators. Skip Hollandsworth: And what would they be indicted for? Todd Rowell (2021-Present) Sheriff Todd Rowell served 20 years with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office prior to being sworn in August 2021 to complete retired Sheriff Matt Lewis's remaining elected term. Sheriff Nathan Lewis, Hemphill County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse, Henderson County Sheriff Rodney B. Watson, Hill County Sheriff Roger Deeds, Hood County Chris Jones: Were going like towards the [unclear] yard. Its crazy he can just say this stuff and people get to hear it., So, I asked Lewis, what did he believe happened on Thanksgiving eve? Search warrants show that Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson is under scrutiny by state investigators . It is a story ABC 7 first uncovered to you in April. Klein said someone who was there (he wouldnt identify that person either) had sneaked up behind Tom, who was sitting inside his Durango with the window down.