Warrant service causes lockdown at Franklin’s high school

Franklin Community High School students were under a security alert Friday due to a SWAT team call in a nearby neighborhood

Police were going to arrest Tony E. Powers, 40, of Franklin, for failing to show up to a hearing on a pending child molesting case, but he was taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital after he experienced a medical issue, Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran said.

A warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday after he failed to appear in court. When Franklin officers arrived to execute the warrant at his home, at about 10:50 a.m. on the 2800 block of Fieldstone Court, he wouldn’t answer the door, despite officers hearing him shut a door within the house, Cochran said.

Franklin police called in the Johnson County SWAT team to force entry into the home, where they found Powers in a bedroom, having difficulty breathing. Powers was then transported to the hospital, Cochran said.

During the arrest attempt, high School students were under a security alert, which lifted at 12:52 p.m., after police apprehended Powers at 12:31 p.m., he said.

Powers was originally arrested on April 30 on a Level 4 felony child molesting charge.

The incidents relating to the charge occurred between August 2017 and June 2019 and were first reported to Franklin police by a guardian of the child in June 2021, according to court documents from Johnson County Circuit Court.

Powers allegedly touched the child inappropriately on several occasions when the child was at his house for a sleepover, court documents say.