Hearings held in Catoosa County to determine fate of child sex cases handled by disbanded FBI task force

A number of child sex cases moved a little closer to some sort of resolution last week in Catoosa County Superior Court when a special appointed judge held a hearing to try to get the ball rolling again on the cases that have been in limbo for more than two years.

Cobb County Superior Court judge Grant Brantley was appointed to hear pretrial motions in the cases in early March 2013 after all four superior court judges with the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit — which serves Catoosa, Walker, Dade and Chattooga counties — recused themselves from hearing any pretrial motions in cases known as the Catoosa “Craigslist Cases.”

Those “Craigslist Cases” are child sexrelated cases that were initially handled by the now-disbanded FBI Northwest Georgia Crimes Against Children Task Force, which was headed up by FBI special agent Ken Hillman, who is the main cause for all the delays.

All the cases fell on Hillman’s watch, with the validity of the cases coming into question and falling under subsequent scrutiny in February 2013.

An investigation was launched due to claims that Hillman allegedly abused his power over the course of two years by influencing local officers to look the other way during instances where he was pulled over on suspicion of drinking and driving.

One such incident in Ringgold in October 2012 involving then Sgt. Tom Evans led to an internal investigation by the Ringgold Police Department and resulted in Evans being fired for driving Hillman and two women out of state to a condo.

That investigation also revealed that one of those women was Hillman’s girlfriend, Angela Russell, and that she had been allowed to work with the task force and even handcuffed suspects in at least one instance.

That series of events, which ultimately lead to Hillman’s suspension from the FBI and subsequent investigation from federal prosecutors, has delayed all 10 of the cases currently hanging in the balance due to the domino effect of Hillman’s alleged transgressions.

Judge Brantley called the April 20 hearing to try to move the cases along and explained to the court that he’s frustrated with the lack of progress.

Ringgold defense attorney McCracken Poston, who represents a defendant in one of the cases, filed a motion to disqualify the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office from the proceedings.

“I filed the motion for disqualification for multiple reasons,” Poston said. “First, our local assistant district attorney unwittingly was present when FBI agent Hillman falsely testified to the Catoosa County grand jury, as the assistant DA’s witness suppressed Angela Russell’s involvement in the task force and claimed her work as his own.”

That assistant district attorney is Alan Norton, who testified during the hearing that Hillman didn’t talk about Angela Russell’s role in the cases during a grand jury hearing.

Norton also stated that if he were aware that Russell was potentially communicating with would-be criminals electronically, he would have questioned Hillman about such activity. Ken Hillman

Poston’s biggest argument is how allowing an unqualified civilian to engage in investigative actions and tactics with potential criminals severely damages the credibility of the charges against the defendants in the cases.

“Our district attorney’s office had been greatly involved in the creation and operation of that task force,” Poston explained. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, until something goes wrong within the task force, which obviously did happen. That makes our prosecutors office more than just an impartial bystander and advocate in the courtroom. Also, another assistant district attorney in our circuit is married to a former member of the now disbanded task force.”

Assistant district attorney Beth Evans is the wife of Tom Evans, whose firing ignited the investigation into Hillman.

Poston currently represents Michael Hardy, who was arrested in the fall of 2012.

“He’s a U.S. Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who had just completed exhausting tours of duty in Afghanistan on mortuary detail,” Poston said. “His job was to collect the bodies and body parts of killed American soldiers while himself being under fire.”

Poston insists that Russell chatted with Hardy online prior to his arrest by the task force. But the question is, did she “lure” or “entrap” him?

“I have represented many clients throughout the course of this operation, and it has been criticized as entrapment, even though the legal definition in Georgia has not always fit,” Poston said. “More to the point, it has been unquestionably effective in luring people with alleged pedophile tendencies to Catoosa County from all over the world. Whether our taxpayers want our jail filled with out-of-town folks who would have never come here but for being lured by the task force, becomes a public policy issue.”

Brantley didn’t make a ruling regarding Poston’s motion, but did schedule another hearing for Friday, May 8, at which time Russell would be expected to testify on the matter.

Poston stated that he expects Russell to plead the Fifth Amendment, which would further complicate things.

“This is somewhat technical, but all the same a reason for disqualification…. our elected district attorney (Franklin) interviewed Angela Russell, and since she is now asserting her Fifth Amendment rights. This makes him (Franklin) one of only a couple of witnesses as to her statements about her involvement in the task force.”

Franklin declined to comment on the current or future status of the cases and the overall situation.

“I cannot ethically comment on any of the specifics,” he said via email.