Former Sheriff Eric Watson Saga Played like a Shakespearean Tragedy

Bradley County TN is the most densely populated part of the the TN 10th judicial district, which means it is sort of a bellwether of future trends.

Serving only one term, Watson's tenure was filled with multiple investigations and lawsuits. He was even jailed in the same county jail he was in charge of until he bonded out.

When a 12-count felony indictment was handed down by a Bradley County grand jury in 2018, he was vacationing with his family at Disneyworld in Florida. He continuously 'sniveled and whined' blaming others: the county commissioners, the TBI, and the news media outlets.  Dan Rawls shared his opinion on the Watson case dismissal. Even though charges against Watson were dismissed, he was not re-elected. After losing re-election, his glamorous wife filed for divorce and remarried: a few months later, she died from complications of the COVID-19/coronavirus. Get ready for an MSNBC Dateline episode hosted by Keith Morrison.

The mishandling of the Watson prosecution was one of the first major failures of former DA Steve Crump; he had grown to be close/friendly with the sheriff and would recuse himself from the case, which was decided by an outside prosecutor. Another major failure was resigning as DA shortly after being re-elected, and then moving out of town. 

Nearby Unicoi County DA Tony Clark was in a similar situation as former DA Crump: a grand jury indicted the local sheriff--he said that even though the sheriff was a friend, he had to perform his duties as prescribed by law. Watch Video

Dr Lobel Raises Serious Questions on the Recent Hamas Attack in Israel

 

That Horrible Move-in Neighbor from Florida: This One was Even Worse

As seen on ArsTechnica 

If you thought the neighbor who returned after getting booted out of Transylvania was bad--meet Barry Ardolf...

A Minnesota hacker prosecutors described as a “depraved criminal” was handed an 18-year prison term Tuesday for unleashing a vendetta of cyber-terror that turned his neighbor’s lives into a living nightmare.

Barry Ardolf, 46, repeatedly hacked into his next-door neighbors’ WiFi network, and used it to try and frame them for child pornography, sexual harassment, various kinds of professional misconduct and to send threatening e-mail to politicians, including then-Vice President Joe Biden.

His motive was to get back at his new neighbors after they told the police he’d kissed their 4-year-old son on the lips.

“Barry Ardolf has demonstrated by his conduct that he is a dangerous man. When he became angry at his neighbors, he vented his anger in a bizarre and calculated campaign of terror against them,” (PDF) prosecutor Timothy Rank said in a court filing. “And he did not wage this campaign in the light of day, but rather used his computer hacking skills to strike at his victims while hiding in the shadows.

“Over months and months, he inflicted unfathomable psychic damage, making the victims feel vulnerable in their own home, while avoiding detection.”

Ardolf had no criminal record, but an investigation revealed that he’d also hijacked the WiFi of other neighbors, and terrorized them as well. 

A father of two, Ardolf had turned down a two-year plea agreement last year to charges related to the Biden e-mail. After that, the authorities piled on more charges, including identity theft and two kiddie-porn accusations carrying lifetime sex-offender registration requirements. He pleaded guilty to them all last year.

The bizarre tale began in 2009 when Matt and Bethany Kostolnik moved in the house next door to Ardolf, who at the time was a Medronic computer technician living in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine.