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Last updated on Wednesday, April 16, 2014
(PUTNAM CO.) - A reserve deputy and son of the Putnam County sheriff faces criminal charges of lying to a federal grand jury.
24-year-old Andrew Fenwick of Greencastle is accused of trying to cover-up for another deputy under investigation for excessive force.
US attorney Joe Hogsett announced the charges against Andrew Fenwick, a reserve deputy, Tuesday morning. Andrew Fenwick is the son of Putnam County Sheriff Steve Fenwick.
Andrew Fenwick is accused of providing false testimony during an investigation into another Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy, Terry Joe Smith. Smith was accused of excessive force in four incidents. Charges against smith are pending and a trial is set for April 28.
According to the indictment, Fenwick gave false statements regarding how much force he used to help Smith apprehend a suspect near Moore's Bar in Greencastle in November 2011, whether he'd seen Smith's police report about Smith's use of force against another person at the Cloverdale truck stop in December 2013 and whether the person in the Cloverdale incident had struck Fenwick with a closed fist before Smith used physical force against that person.
"I think it seriously undermines those cases," said Bradley Blackington, assistant US attorney. "In that type of case, a defense lawyer can stand up in front of the jury and say, 'Look at what the police did.' It sheds a negative light on the conduct of police. It undermines, frankly, the respect police have in the community. That's why these cases are so bad."
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