Monroe County, TN: Terror, Tyranny and Treason

THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

by Sharon Rondeau

(Nov. 11, 2010) — During the last few days, several more people have come forward to tell their stories of physical abuse, unwarranted incarceration, and the violation of their constitutional rights perpetrated by the Monroe County, TN Sheriff’s Department.  These stories are extremely disturbing.  The pain and suffering inflicted on the residents of this rural mountain community have terrorized them into submission to a brutal police force which conducts a reign of terror and is more reminiscent of the Stalin or Hitler regime than the United States.

To date, I have been told stories of beatings, taserings, assaults and confiscation of property against innocent people. I have heard about Attorneys Randy Rogers and Matthew Rogers, who charge exorbitant fees to keep their clients “out of jail,” deny their clients exculpatory evidence while purporting to represent them, and coerce these injured parties to sign a form promising not to file a civil suit against the police who unlawfully assaulted and imprisoned them in order to extort money from them.  There are now just too many people saying the same things for it to be a coincidence.

We will continue to publish these first-hand accounts of police brutality, terrorism and murder on the part of the sheriff’s department.  We are going to expose the drug business that the sheriff’s department is knowingly funding and how the local so-called officers of the court and judges are participating in it.  They  have extorted, robbed, and tortured people into submission, and this cannot stand.  And we will find out who killed Jim Miller since the FBI does not seem interested.

We will expose the jail with toilets that don’t flush and inmates who have nearly died because they were given someone else’s medication.  We will tell the stories of people being left in filthy conditions and of inmates doing the electrical work inside the jail because the jailers are pocketing all of the money they extort rather than hiring someone qualified to do the job.  And we will learn the story of Trina Miller, who at 36 died of a heart attack in jail while her guards laughed at her and told her it was nothing more than indigestion while they watched her die.

With every new person who comes forward, there will be a larger and stronger group of people who could bring charges against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department for police brutality; permanent injury, if pertinent; unlawful restraint and incarceration, and extortion.  We will continue to expose court personnel who are allowing this to happen year after year by their complicity.  We will tell the stories of those who have made payments to the court and were then forced to make the same payments over and over again.

With all of these people relating very similar stories and naming the same names, there can be no doubt that the sheriff’s department, courts, and grand jury are completely corrupt.  People are jailed in the most unsanitary conditions; family members are prohibited from seeing their relative in the hospital because a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy is stationed by the ill person’s bedside in the hospital to prevent it; people have become deathly ill inside the jail because they did not receive proper medical treatment, and the  judges are fully aware that they are sentencing innocent people to prison and sometimes death.

The story of Monroe County is about a community which has forgotten, or never knew, about its constitutional rights.  The people are scared of their local government and simply want to “stay out of trouble.”  It is as if they are all in jail, subservient to the sheriff and his crooked deputies.  The people live in fear at all times, unable to move about freely.  As one person put it, “the criminals are the ones in uniform.”

Walter Fitzpatrick is standing up to the thugs in the sheriff’s department and the courtrooms, and he has been willing to put his life on the line so that justice can be done.  He has always said “It’s not about me.”  The lives of those around him are more important to him than his own.  He has honored the oath he took to uphold the U.S. Constitution while others have cowered in the shadows, afraid of what “law enforcement” might do to them.  That is why he is sitting in the Monroe County jail, which “isn’t fit for a dog,” aware that the criminals posing as judges are eagerly awaiting their chance to sentence him to years and years in prison for attempting to expose their corrupt rigging of the grand jury and other crimes.

We will continue to expose the extortion, racketeering, and money laundering that is occurring.  We are going to expose Sheriff Bill Bivens for the criminal he is, along with Officer Trent Prock, Detective Travis Jones, and Captain Wilson.  We will name the names of those who have physically assaulted members of the community and laughed as they tasered and tortured them and were then promoted in rank.  These thugs won’t know what hit them when the whole truth is out, and it is coming out.

The Post & Email is contacting an attorney on behalf of all of those who have come forward with stories of terror, tyranny, and treason in Monroe County.  We are also filing a complaint against the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Knoxville and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for apparently failing to act against our repeated complaints of prisoner abuse, unsanitary conditions, assaults against citizens, corrupt judges, and unlawful incarcerations.  If we have to testify in front of Congress to effect change, we will do so, and if we have to hire an attorney to sue for damages on the victims’ behalf, we will do that also.  Anyone who has been informed of the problem but has failed to act will be named.

These horrendous violations of citizens’ constitutional rights cannot stand.  Please join with me in fighting the violent corruption that has paralyzed this community for decades.  If eventually the Walter F. Fitzpatrick, III Legal Defense Fund can assist more people than Walt, then more lives can be repaired if restitution is sought and made.  So far, readers of The Post & Email have donated over $2,000 to the fund, and I am very grateful for your generosity during this time of extreme need throughout the country.