Terre Haute police officer on administrative leave, facing criminal charges
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – A THPD officer appeared in a Vigo County court Friday morning for criminal charges related to an off-duty incident in December of 2015.
Terre Haute Police Acting Chief Shawn Keen stated Friday morning that Danial Armentrout, an 18 year veteran with THPD, has been placed on administrative leave.
The alleged incident happened on Dec. 21 with a female acquaintance of Armentrout. The initial report was made with THPD and then the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office was contacted to assign an outside investigator to the case.
“Officer Armentrout was placed on administrative leave within hours of receiving the report, and his departmental firearms, badge, and vehicle were removed,” Keen stated in a release Friday morning. “Officer Armentrout has remained on administrative leave since the day of the incident. Immediately upon filing of the charges, I notified the Terre Haute Police Department Merit Commission of the charges.”
Court documents obtained by News 10 show Armentrout is facing charges including battery, criminal confinement, criminal trespass and intimidation.
The documents show that a battery report was filed against Armentrout by the female acquaintance after police were called to her home for an unwanted guest. The report stated Armentrout and the acquaintance had been arguing during the days prior to Dec. 21 and he showed up at the apartment on that date and became agitated.
The acquaintance reported on Dec. 21 that Armentrout tried to prevent her from calling 911 and the acquaintance reported he got physical with her and yelled in front of her child as well.
On Dec. 23 the acquaintance agreed to meet with investigators and to give a statement. During the interview, she stated Armentrout had threatened to kill her, but that he hadn’t figured out how.
Court documents show Armentrout gave a written statement on Dec. 22 stating he had never battered the acquaintance, that they had argued and she called 911. He stated he would not contact the acquaintance again.
It was also on Dec. 22 that investigators were able to retrieve text messages from the cell phone of the acquaintance. Multiple text messages sent from Armentrout on Dec. 15 and 16 showed he threatened to share private pictures and videos her online.
When Armentrout gave a statement at the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office on Jan. 5 he admitted to sending those threatening text messages.
Under the THPD merit rules, the commission must “determine if the member should be suspended pending resolution of the criminal action and if such suspension is to be with or without pay.”
Armentrout’s pre-trial date is set for June 6 and trial is set for June 28.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is provided.
