Staff Reports
10. Iconic tree
comes down
One limb at a time, the locally famous leaning tree came down Sept. 3. For more than 150 years, the tree stood at a 30-degree angle about 3 miles south of Franklin in the 3500 block of Airport Road. The tree’s removal was initiated after a citizen submitted a formal complaint asking the highway department to look into the safety of it. On June 4, Airport Road, also known as Nineveh Road, was closed after an initial inspection determined the tree was unsafe to drive under. Then, in June, two master arborists determined the tree was at “extreme risk” of falling. So, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to remove the tree. County officials and local artisans are still looking at ways to preserve the tree, such as a memorial.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery9. Operation Firewall
Over the course of three days, nine men allegedly came to Johnson County intent on meeting a teenager for sex. They drove — some for more than an hour — to undisclosed locations in Greenwood to meet up with undercover detectives posed as an underage girl. It was part of a first-of-its-kind sting operation in the county, dubbed Operation Firewall, a partnership of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office and Covenant Rescue Group, an Alabama-based nonprofit that’s fighting human trafficking across the country. The operation, Sheriff Duane Burgess said, was months in the making. Detectives on Dec. 8 lured three men to Greenwood. On Dec. 9, another two followed suit. And on Dec. 10, detectives caught four more child predators and an Avon woman who was traveling with one of them. All but one of the men were from outside the county. The ultimate goal was to catch human traffickers. The suspects — ranging in age from 24 to 62, of varying races, from rural, suburban and urban parts of the state — represent all walks of life.
8. 13 years later: The Bryant trial
More than 13 years after a Greenwood woman brutally murdered the woman she called “mom,” a judge sentenced her to 55 years in prison. Following a week-long trial in January, a jury convicted Stephanie Ann Bryant, 59, of murdering Stella Morgan, 83 at the time, on or around Christmas Eve 2006, at Morgan’s home in downtown Greenwood. Bryant received a credit of 26 years for the 13 years she’d already served, mostly at a psychiatric hospital in Indianapolis. She had been at the Johnson County jail since October 2018. If Bryant doesn’t commit any additional infractions, she could be released from prison in about 13 1/2 years, now a little less than half of the remaining sentence. Due to old sentencing guidelines that applied when Bryant committed the murder, she got credit for twice the 13 years she served at the hospital and jail. Bryant was found guilty but mentally ill on Jan. 31, meaning there was evidence of a psychiatric disorder, but she would be held responsible for her actions. During the trial, prosecutors said Bryant killed Morgan by hitting her in the head with a hammer 15 times. Police found Bryant covered in blood early Christmas morning 2006 at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis. She was charged with murder four days later, but deemed incompetent to stand trial. Bryant spent more than a decade at Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, a psychiatric hospital on the west side of Indianapolis. She was released in late 2018, after hospital officials said Bryant’s competency was restored.
7. Brent Waltz indicted
Local businessman and politician Brent Waltz, a former Johnson County Council member and state senator representing parts of the county, was indicted in late September for being linked to a campaign donation scheme stemming from his unsuccessful congressional run in 2016. A federal grand jury in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana charged Waltz and gaming executive John Keeler with violations of federal campaign finance laws, false statements and falsification of records, for making illegal corporate contributions and conduit contributions to Waltz’s congressional campaign. Waltz, 47, of Greenwood, was arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy to make conduit contributions, false statements and to obstruct justice, one count of making and receiving conduit contributions, one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements related to the scheme. The indictment came a day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Waltz’s Greenwood condo.
6. Teens shot, another charged
A Greenwood teen is charged with murder after a shooting Oct. 30 in the Foxberry Trace neighborhood. Marcus Anthony Salatin, 16, was arrested Oct. 30 and charged days later with murder and criminal recklessness, a Level 5 felony. Salatin will be tried as an adult. At 4:45 p.m. Oct. 30, the sheriff’s office responded to the 3800 block of Chelsea Terrace in Greenwood after neighbors reported multiple shots fired, according to court documents filed in Johnson County Circuit Court. At the scene, police found three teens in a gray Jeep. Kashius Davis, 15, of Bargersville, was dead. Another teen had been shot in the leg and another was uninjured. Both surviving teens identified the shooter as Salatin. Johnson County deputies located Salatin quickly, at his home in the 800 block of Lionshead Lane, where they arrested him without incident. The survivors told police they were in the neighborhood because the victim wanted to have a fistfight with Salatin, who they located via social media app Snapchat. One of the survivors alleged Davis and Salatin had been arguing about drugs and theft. When the teens located Salatin, they noticed he had a semi-automatic pistol just before he began shooting multiple times at the vehicle’s passenger side, where Davis and the 19 year old were sitting. The driver drove about 550 feet to the location where deputies found the vehicle. Deputies found eight spent shell casings and broken glass from the vehicle window at the site of the shooting, documents said. Salatin remains at the Johnson County jail without bond. A jury trial is scheduled for March.
5. Brutal murder
An Indianapolis man is charged with murdering 18-year-old Donovan Burdine, allegedly shooting him 12 times during a drug deal gone wrong. Johnson County prosecutors charged Emilio Luis Garcia, 20 at the time, with murder, pointing a firearm and carrying a handgun without a license after the shooting Jan. 25 in downtown Franklin. Garcia told police during an interview he shot Burdine with his own gun and Burdine’s gun, which several witnesses confirmed, According to court documents filed in Johnson County Superior Court 2. At 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Franklin police were dispatched to a report of several shots fired in an alley in the 100 block of Hurricane Street, behind the Boys and Girls Club of Franklin, according to dispatch records. Police found Burdine in a nearby front yard dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Franklin police gathered details of the crime that led to Burdine’s death: a fight over 2 ounces of marijuana. Garcia’s case is scheduled for a jury trial Feb. 23.
4. Christmas Eve double homicide
Ethan Bell, 20, of Indianapolis, and a 17 year old whose identity had not been released at the time this went to press are dead and another person is recovering after a shooting Christmas Eve at a gas station on the Johnson and Morgan county line. Bargersville Police and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of shots fired at 5:08 a.m. Dec. 24. At the scene, Bargersville police found two men dead and another injured on the northside of the gas station parking lot, said Jeremey Roll, spokesperson for the police department. No one witnessed the crime other than the surviving victim, who was in stable condition this week at Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, and no one heard the shots fired, he said. A customer reported the crime scene to the gas station clerk, Roll said. At press time, Bargersville police were searching for a person of interest, an 18-year-old Morgan County man. No one had been arrested or charged in the crime, and no warrants had been issued. Bargersville hadn’t seen a homicide in recent memory.
3. Election like no other
Johnson County posted its best voter turnout in history, and voters cast more ballots early than ever before in a divisive general election that kept the country on pins and needles for more than three days. This year, 70% of the county’s registered voters cast ballots in the general election, shattering the previous voter turnout record of 64% set in 2008. It was the highest ballot count in recent memory — possibly in history — said Reagan Higdon, first deputy clerk. On Election Day, 16,600 people voted in-person, but the bulk of votes were cast early. The highest vote count, at 48,288, came from early in-person voting. Nearly 13,300 cast mail-in ballots, 133 sent their votes via email and 29 voted via travel board, according to Johnson County Clerk’s Office data. Early voting — both by mail and in-person — shattered previous records with many voting early to avoid long lines on Election Day. Ironically, early voters experienced longer lines than those who waited until Election Day, with some waiting two hours or more to vote in northern Johnson County. Historic early voting complicated the election this year across the country, and the presidential election was not called for President-elect Joe Biden until Nov. 7, more than three days after the polls closed. Biden crossed the winning threshold of 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, made history as the first Black and South Asian woman to become vice president. The California senator will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government, four years after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. In the days and weeks after the election, President Donald Trump launched multiple legal challenges against the results in battleground states. Each challenge was struck down for lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud, as the suits alleged. Today, Trump still refuses to concede the election, though results have now been certified by each state’s electors.
2. Minar’s fall
Ex-Franklin College President Thomas J. Minar spent the year in and out of courtrooms after he allegedly sent sexually explicit messages, including photos, to an undercover officer posing as a 15 year old. Minar was fired from his post in January, shortly after his arrest in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Minar faces 15 total charges, including 12 possession of child pornography charges that were added in March after a search of his phone produced new evidence. After Minar was fired, men’s head basketball coach Kerry Prather served as interim Franklin College president before assuming the role permanently. About 1:30 p.m. Jan. 6, Minar, who identified himself as a 53-year-old man on the Grindr messaging app, began chatting with an undercover officer, according to court documents filed in the Door County Circuit Court. Minar exchanged messages with the officer, who eventually told Minar he was 15. Minar continued to send sexually explicit messages and photos to the officer throughout the day, and said he had a vacation home in the area. The online exchange lasted nearly until his arrest about 8:30 p.m. that night. The additional charges against Minar came after Sturgeon Bay police searched his personal phone and found several photos and videos of adult and child pornography, according to an amended criminal complaint filed in the Door County court. The investigating officer also discovered a conversation between Minar and another man that went on for about two years. Those conversations included photos and videos of Minar and the man involved in sex acts. The two men also talked about having sex with minors. Pretrial and status hearings are ongoing, with the next status conference set for Monday.
1. Coronavirus pandemic
March started out like any other. A week in, the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Indiana, and local officials were urging the public not to panic. By March 11, the coronavirus made its way to Johnson County with three cases reported, at the time more than any other county in the state. By March 17, some local schools closed, moving to an entirely eLearning format. And by spring’s start, Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered all schools across the state to close. Neither K-12 nor college students would return to the classroom until August, and learning hasn’t been the same since. By March 24, the governor issued his first coronavirus-related executive order, requiring residents to stay home except for essential travel, the start of what would become a months-long isolation as businesses everywhere closed their doors and Hoosiers began working from home. Many lost their jobs, resulting in historic unemployment that reached 14.7% in April. Congress stepped up with a massive coronavirus relief bill that brought $1,200 stimulus checks to most, and added $600 to state unemployment benefits. Outbreaks occurred, festivals were canceled and holidays weren’t the same. In June, cases and deaths started going down, bringing some relief during the summer months. High School students graduated outdoors — donning masks — and their younger peers made their way back to classrooms — part-time — in August. In July, a mask mandate was put in place and remained throughout the year. By October, cases and deaths started surging again, and traditional flu season wasn’t helping. Area hospitals were overwhelmed, at times diverting patients to other hospitals when they didn’t have the space. The first vaccines arrived in December. So far, they have been distributed to health care workers and National Guard members, with local long-term care facility residents and staff starting to receive the shots this week. To date, more than 500,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Indiana, and more than 7,700 deaths. In Johnson County, there have been 11,914 cases, and 235 deaths. About 63,200 — more than 1/3 of county residents — have been tested.
