Three people who were facing criminal charges in local courts have pled guilty and been sentenced for charges including concealing valuable metal purchases and counterfeiting.
The Daily Journal has previously reported about these cases and is sharing this update to give resolution to our earlier reporting on crime in the community.
Women sentenced for concealing purchases
Two women charged in connection to the illegal purchases of catalytic converters will each serve about a year on probation.
Ashley N. Browning, 33, of Edinburgh, pleaded guilty on May 11 to concealing a valuable metal purchase, a Class A misdemeanor, before Johnson County Superior Court 2 Judge Peter Nugent. Tammy S. Hill, 58, of Trafalgar, pleaded guilty the same day to concealing a valuable metal purchase, a Level 6 felony, before Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener, according to online court records.
Browning was sentenced to 365 days in jail, 363 days of which was suspended to probation, and received a one-day jail credit. Hill received the exact same sentence as Browning: 365 days in jail, 363 days suspended to probation with a one-day jail credit, online court records.
Both Browning and Hill were among a group of five people who have been charged in connection to the illegal purchases of catalytic converters following an investigation last year. Investigators decided they would conduct an audit of recent transaction records from “core buying companies” of catalytic converter parts to verify that companies are following state guidelines when it comes to selling converter components, according to court documents.
Representatives from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Edinburgh Police Department, and the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office held a meeting with some of these companies from Johnson and Bartholomew Counties to inform them of state guidelines and upcoming audits in October 2021. Among the people present at the meeting were Browning and Hill, who worked at area recycling businesses, court documents show.
During an undercover transaction audit at Cats Plus in Edinburgh in February 2022, detectives said Browning failed to collect the legally required information in order to conduct a lawful transaction, and that Hill assisted in the transaction by making the detective answer deceptively, according to court documents.
Undercover detectives were given component parts to sell to the recycling business, and during the audit, they were met by Browning, who asked them for identification and the titles for the converters. The detectives said they did not have them, and Browning said she needed something to prove they were not stolen, as it was a felony to pay them without the information, court documents say.
The detective said he would try to contact someone to get the information, and Browning later asked the detectives to get the vehicle’s registration, which a second detective did. The detective then asked if he was supposed to write the bill of sale, and Browning said no, court documents say.
Browning asked the detective if the converters came off his vehicle, and Hill, who was in the same office and had previously met the men earlier in the transaction, was heard saying “Just say yes” to the detective. The detective agreed with Hill, and Browning later said OK, according to court documents.
Browning later asked the detective if he had been in before, to which he said yes. She asked the detective if he was in the same car as before, and the detective said yes. He also said does that make it easier, and she said yes. Browning then gave the detective a receipt for $581, court documents say.
Detectives say Browning failed to collect the legally required information in order to conduct a lawful transaction, and that Hill assisted in the transaction by making the detective answer deceptively, according to court documents.
One year for counterfeiting
An Indianapolis man will serve a year in jail for trying to buy a car at a Franklin car dealership with a stolen identity.
Jovan Davis, 36, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on charges of counterfeiting and identity deception, both Level 6 felonies, and resisting law enforcement and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors, on April 27. Superior Court 2 Judge Peter Nugent sentenced him to 365 days in jail, with a 19-day jail credit, according to online court records.
Franklin police responded to a report of fraud in December 2021 to a car dealership in the 3000 block of N. Morton Street, according to a Franklin Police Department report.
An employee told police a man who identified himself as a 42-year-old Indiana man came into the used showroom at the dealership to apply for financing to purchase a 2018 Dodge Challenger for about $46,000. The employee said the man provided an Indiana driver’s license. When the dealership ran the man’s credit report, they received an alert showing that someone with that name was a victim of identity theft, but Davis was able to answer all of the security questions. The employee told the man he would have to come back the next day with proof of insurance to pick up the vehicle, according to the report.
Officers contacted the identity theft victim, a Maryland man who said he had never lived in Indiana. The victim said his identity was stolen a few months prior, and said this was the third attempt to buy a vehicle using his information, according to the report.
Police waited for Davis at the car dealership the following day. They noticed a grey Chevrolet Tahoe with dark-tinted windows pull into the lot. Police went inside the showroom to wait for Davis, but shortly after stepping inside, the Chevrolet Tahoe began to back out of the parking space it was sitting in. Police ran outside to flag down the vehicle, and it eventually stopped on the far west end of the lot near the exit, according to the report.
Police recognized the passenger to be the man from the picture on the ID given to the car dealership. After patting him down, Davis began to walk away saying, “I’m not detained.” Police told him he was, in fact, detained and an officer later attempted to handcuff him. However, Davis was able to break the officer’s grasp on his arm and fled across U.S. 31 toward a trailer park, the report said.
Police chased Davis on foot into the trailer park, but lost sight of him. The chase ended at a shed between two trailers after they noticed evidence of a break-in. Later, they opened the shed door and saw Davis standing inside. They ordered him out of the shed and onto the ground, according to the report.
Police searched him and found a broken padlock shank in his jacket pocket. Officers told Davis they had been called by the car dealership to investigate possible fraud and asked him if he was at the dealership. He stared at them with no response. They asked him what his name was. He again stared at them with no response, the report said.
The Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center later emailed officers with a possible match for the picture they had sent earlier in the investigation, saying it was possibly Davis. He later confirmed that was, in fact, him.
