Monroe County Sheriff’s Department: Fitzpatrick in Custody of U.S. Marshals

“FOR COURT”…BUT HE WASN’T THERE

by Sharon Rondeau

(Oct. 20, 2011) — The Post & Email has contacted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department this morning to inquire as to the whereabouts of Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III, as he does not appear to be in the custody of either the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department or the Blount County Sheriff’s Department, which one individual was informed yesterday.

The woman who initially answered the phone at the Monroe County Sheriff’s office transferred the call to another woman, who stated that Fitzpatrick is in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service.  When asked, she responded that she did not know where the marshals came from or their contact information.

Prior to contacting Monroe County, we contacted the Knoxville FBI, who referred us to the TBI and the District Attorney General’s office.  We contacted the latter and were told that there were no attorneys in the office who could return our call until Tuesday of next week.  When we identified ourselves to the receptionist, she stated that she is aware of The Post & Email.  We gave her Fitzpatrick’s name and told her that we are concerned for his safety and health.

We asked the receptionist at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department if Fitzpatrick was physically well at the time of his departure, and she said, “Yes, he was.”  On the evening of October 27, 2010, after Fitzpatrick was tasered multiple times and beaten on the head by four deputies, we were also told that he was unhurt.

The individual who sought out Fitzpatrick was told by a public defender for Darren Huff that Fitzpatrick was in the Blount County jail.  However, when the individual went to see Fitzpatrick, he was told that there was a “William Fitzpatrick,” but no Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III.

The woman who gave The Post & Email the information about the U.S. Marshal’s Service volunteered two more words:  “for court,” apparently meaning that Fitzpatrick was scheduled to testify as a witness in the trial of Darren Huff on October 18, as The Post & Email had reported.  An eyewitness to the trial reported:

…the marshals refuse to allow him to put on street clothes…[Fitzpatrick is] shackled from head to toe. The most disturbing thing was to find out that he has not bathed (whether he had a choice or not I do not know) in 28 days. My stomach sank to hear that, because I don’t know if he is doing it as part of his protest, or if they are denying him the most basic rights of any creature.

Inmate conditions in the Monroe County jail have been reported as a “dungeon” and “filthy.”

Huff had gone to Madisonville, the county seat of Monroe County, on April 20, 2010 for Fitzpatrick’s arraignment and was arrested ten days later for something which he stated “never happened.”  A former attorney now living in North Carolina claimed responsibility for the massive police presence in Madisonville that day for which schools were closed and SWAT teams deployed.

Huff and Fitzpatrick were both named as extremists by Barton Gellman in a Time Magazine hit piece published on September 30, 2010.  Huff has stated that he did nothing wrong, and Fitzpatrick had attempted a citizen’s arrest, which is legal in Tennessee, of several court officials including the grand jury foreman, who had been serving for at least the last 20 years but possibly for 27 years or longer.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department has labeled Fitzpatrick “an eccentric” and a member of a cult and in doing so, has discouraged at least one tourist from visiting the area last summer.  Fitzpatrick is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and a former Eagle Scout.  Fitzpatrick filed several complaints for treason against Barack Hussein Obama and has stated that he is sure that Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya rather than Hawaii, as Obama has claimed.

Huff is a veteran of the U.S. Navy.  Editor’s Note:  The account of events depicted in the referenced link is disputed by Mr. Huff, whose federal trial is ongoing today.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service for the Eastern District of Tennessee covers roughly half of the state and has numerous points of contact.