Center Township constable arrested again, charged with new felony
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Center Township Constable Denise Hatch on Wednesday was back in jail and facing another felony charge for official misconduct.
Moments before being arrested in a Marion County court, Hatch took off her uniform jacket, stretched her arms, and put her arms behind her back to be cuffed.
Flanked by deputy constables, Hatch walked into court for a pretrial hearing for her previous official misconduct felony charges.
She was arrested following the hearing.
Her friend Bobby Kern walked out with her hat and jacket in his hand. “She’s not guilty. I know that much,” Kern said.
In court, the judge said the new felony charge of official misconduct stems from an incident on Sept. 24 at a Marion County Center Township Democratic Party meeting.
Should Denise have been there to begin with?
“Denise should never have been charged at all for this stupid case,” Kern said.
According to court documents, Hatch interrupted a meeting being held by Center Township Trustee LaDonna Freeman. After Freeman finally got Hatch to leave the meeting, Freeman says, Hatch called her a derogatory curse word at least 15 times in the hallway.
Kern said Wednesday, “Nothing occurred that was bad other than her and Denise had some words in an elevator.”
At the time, Hatch was under house arrest as a condition of her bond while she was awaiting trial for her other official misconduct charges. Kern insisted that Hatch had permission to leave her house.
Kern said, “Denise felt like she didn’t want to leave the house because she knew this **** was going to happen again.”
So, why did she leave the house?
“Because she had; she was told by the Democratic Party that they wanted her there, so she went,” Kern said.
Was she going for a confrontation?
“No, she wasn’t,” Kern said.
Before I-Team 8 could ask Kern more questions, Hatch’s deputy constables pulled him away and took him to the stairwell.
Jeff Harris, a representative of the Marion County Democratic Party, issued a statement.
“The Constable was not specifically invited by the Marion County Democratic Party. She is an adult and chose to violate the terms of her house arrest. Now she must deal with the consequences.”
I-Team 8 also reached out to the Center Township trustee about the incident, but Freeman did not respond before the story aired at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Hatch was being held without bond. A new bond hearing was set for Tuesday.
Previous coverage from WISH-TV
- Family of Marion County constable blames attorney for new felony charge
- Center Township constable arrested, facing felony misconduct charges
- Constable facing felony charges asks for public defender
- Center Township constable releases video from grocery store confrontation
- Center Township constable says officer impersonation arrest led to court confrontation
- Center Township deputy constable arrested for being felon with a firearm