Former sheriff challenges his arrest

Friday, January 8, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- The state has filed a response to former Putnam County Sheriff Mark Frisbie's challenge to the probable cause that led to his Dec. 4 arrest.

Frisbie was arrested after being stopped by Indiana State Troopers on U.S. 231 in Greencastle. Court records said officers stopped Frisbie because he was driving erratically.

Frisbie was found to have a blood alcohol content of .27, court records said. The legal limit in Indiana is .08.

Because his blood alcohol level was so high, Frisbie was taken to the Putnam County Hospital for evaluation. After being checked by a physician, he was booked into the Putnam County Jail, where he paid a $3,000 surety bond and was released.

Frisbie was charged with Class C misdemeanor operating while intoxicated, Class B misdemeanor public intoxication and Class A misdemeanor operating with at least .15 grams of alcohol in 210 liters. He was also cited for two infractions, open alcohol container and driving left of center.

On Tuesday, Frisbie's attorney filed a verified motion for probable cause challenge, requesting a hearing. The motion says Frisbie's arrest was based on a "questionable stop," and that there was "no evidence of impaired driving by the defendant or any observations of the defendant driving the motor vehicle on the date and place in question."

The motion goes on to say "The defendant alleges that he did not commit any driving violations or violate any traffic laws on the date or time of his arrest" and that the officer who pulled Frisbie over did not have "reasonable grounds to believe a warrant for the arrest of the defendant had been issued in this state or any other jurisdiction," and that because Frisbie's driver's license has been taken away as a result of the incident, it has created a hardship for him "in that he is unable to search for employment."

The state's response to the motion, prepared by Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter, said the case was reviewed, and that the investigation, "along with the wording of the current motion before the court, leads the state to believe that this motion is without merit and it should be denied without a hearing."

Additionally, Bookwalter said, the officer who arrested Frisbie observed "multiple traffic violations" before stopping Frisbie.

"During the investigation, the defendant event admitted his guilt, saying 'There's no reason to fight it, .27 is extremely high.'"

Frisbie has retained attorney Darrell Felling of Greencastle to represent him. A trial in the case is set for April 7 in Putnam County Superior Court.

As a term of Frisbie's bond, Judge Denny Bridges has ordered that Frisbie refrain from consuming any alcohol or entering any establishment that serves alcohol.

Frisbie, 39, was already on federal probation when he was arrested in December in connection with a November 2008 conviction for federal program theft. Amid allegations he had embezzled money from the sheriff's department, Frisbie resigned from his post as sheriff in August 2008 and was arrested several days later.

He spent two months in a federal penitentiary in Georgia, and then spent four months on home detention before beginning a two-year term of federal probation.

Frisbie is scheduled to be in the United States District Court in Indianapolis on Jan. 22 for a hearing on the alleged violation of his federal probation caused by the December arrest.

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  • GPD officers very kindly helped my husband and I when we broke down on a side street and made sure we got home safely. Are we suggesting with the previous comment that this officer may have profiled him and then pulled him over and then accidentally stumbled on the fact that he was drunk? The truth here is that Mr. Frisbie chose to drink and drive...A GPD officer doing his job caught him. I am thankful that Mr. Frisbie, other motorists, or innocent people were not injured by his choice. Let's hold him accountable for his choice. I am sorry for his family and Mr. Frisbie. Maybe this new charge can be the catalyst for him to get some help.

    -- Posted by doseofwhatmatters on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 12:48 AM
  • First off it was not a GPD officer it was a state trooper. But you can say he was set up I was told a county unit was a cross the street from the bowling alley watched Mark get in his truck and then called it in why didn't the county unit pull him over.

    -- Posted by fighting mad on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 12:56 AM
  • Fighting mad is right, it was a State Trooper that pulled him over. There is no point to drag GPD into this mess.

    If Mr. Frisbie had been pulled over by a county officer, then that would have created a scenario with all the melodrama of a bad reality show.

    Getting pulled over by a State Troper was a slam dunk arrest with no ill-gotten motivation other than public safety.

    Anyone who is in as much trouble as Mr. Frisbie, is going to get a lawyer and try to keep the punishment down to a minimum.

    This is a terrible lose-lose situation, so much that there is no "shock value" left in the events of this mans life. Thousands of people have followed the same path Mr. Frisbie is on and the ending is always predictable, and heartbreaking for family and friends.

    If Mark served his time, paid his debts, sobered up and turned his life around, would we read THAT story? Would it be printed?

    -- Posted by Xgamer on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 5:00 AM
  • @ Xgamer ..

    Would anyone care is the correct question.

    -- Posted by Oh My Goodness on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 7:40 AM
  • give it up mark , take your lumps and be a man admit your mistakes. it is the first step to recovery.

    -- Posted by A Mad Bovine on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 7:48 AM
  • Well, the sad part is: No matter if Mark cleans up or not, he is a former public official, and it will always make news when he is arrested. Fast-forward 10 years, and after being clean for nine, and he is arrested again: It will be printed. Unless, all the young folks take over the Banner office and the only thing they think of when they here "Frisbie" is a round little plastic thingy that they throw at each other in the park.

    -- Posted by GreencastleMom2009 on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 8:08 AM
  • So, Frisbie is not denying that he was over 3 times the legal limit at .27, but that he can drive perfectly at that limit and shouldn't have been pulled over. At that limit, he is a risk to everyone on the road and his judgement is greatly impared. He has no chance of convincing anyone that an ISP trooper had no reason to arrest him. Mark, admit that you have a problem, do your punishment, get help and then move as far from Putnam County as you can.

    -- Posted by albert on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 8:35 AM
  • Drunk Driving - what part of this is ok......IT"S NOT! The Trooper that pulled him over DID HIS JOB!!!! Enough said!

    -- Posted by smartmom on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 9:01 AM
  • Bottom line is that, Mr. Frisbie has the right, BECAUSE THE LAW SAYS SO, to challenge the probable cause stated in the affidavit filed by ANY law enforcement, whether it was Greencastle Police, Putnam County Sheriff's Department, or Indiana State Police. If you want to whine and complain about the man's right to do this, maybe you should take it up with the Supreme Court and its Justices that made such a law!

    -- Posted by PuttingItBluntly on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 9:03 AM
  • Yes it is his right to challange the evidence,but it's time to be a man MARK!

    -- Posted by obeone on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 9:21 AM
  • Oh My gosh, .27, .27, .27, shouldn't that be enough probable cause. He is lucky with that blood alcohol he can even remember or was at all coherent, if in fact he was. MADD, SADD, and many other organizations need to have a little sit down with Mr. Frisbee. You would think he knows better after all the people he has arrested for DUI who probably had a low BAC than this moron did. Guilty as charged.

    -- Posted by tjchopper on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 9:38 AM
  • I for one had to leave the state of Indiana

    to rebuild my life and reputation after being

    pulled over for traffic violations. I was

    treated worse in that town than a drug dealer.

    For one they was able to get employment as for

    me I was not able.

    I have since settled in another state and have

    resided for 9 yrs going on 10 and am very happy

    content and happy with the path I chose.

    Maybe Mark will have to do the same as I have

    done in order to get his life in order. Mark if

    you should read this head South it is much better

    living down here.

    Happy and Contented in SC.

    -- Posted by valdostas on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 11:46 AM
  • Yes, he has a right to make the state prove their case... no doubt there, at our expense, of course. Also, this buys him some time to maybe keep the federal probation at bay and might keep him from going back to prison faster. Or, maybe he will work towards a plea agreement that helps him in that area. Of course, with such a high profile case, I doubt if Prosecutor BowTie will want to do anything but make him plead guilty to anything other than what he was changed.

    On the evidence that's been in the paper, I would say it is for sure an uphill battle to win this one. They would have to discredit the BAC reading *and* discredit the trooper, which is going to be hard unless they try some silly approach of the nature that the trooper hated Frisbie and there was a conflict of interest of some type.

    -- Posted by GreencastleMom2009 on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 11:50 AM
  • The people that are whining that he was "set up" and pulled over without probable cause are the same people that would be furious if he had killed an innocent child by slamming into a family's mini van while driving drunk. THIS OFFICER GOT A DRUNK MAN OFF THE ROAD!! END OF STORY!!! The only people that are worried about being pulled over for "no reason" are the people that are doing something wrong. Who cares if he was "set up". Police do that sometimes. It's their job! They do it when they sit and radar your speed, they do it when they set up a drug deal to bust drug dealers, they do it when they put a fake prostitute on the street corner. Here's a clue, if you are worried about being arrested..Don't do anything that would get you arrested!!

    And I am guessing that anyone that blew a .27 WAS in fact committing traffic violations. Stop breaking the law Frisbee and you wouldn't have anything to whine about. You should probably get down on your hands and knees and thank the officer that pulled you over. He might have saved you from killing yourself or even worse, someone else.

    -- Posted by putnammom on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 12:10 PM
  • Wow a .27 bac, a sloppy looking drunk from the picture that appeared in the paper, and he wants to challenge the validity of the stop. Another example of a criminal that wants to blame everyone but himself.

    -- Posted by purple_heat on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 1:33 PM
  • What difference does it make where you get your information from if the end result is correct .27 is drunk,would any one on here change their comment it he serouisly injuried,or killed a loved one,be honest!

    -- Posted by obeone on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 3:49 PM
  • The ploice can stop anyone for any reason they fell is pertinet to us driving,if you have nothing to hide what's the harm?I've been pulled over for no reason,it's no big deal.

    -- Posted by obeone on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 3:53 PM
  • He wasn't "set up" unless the deputy provided him the alcohol and then told him to drive. Mark made those choices himself, it wasn't the deputy or trooper that made him do it. I hope the trooper had his dash camera on and documented the erratic driving. Hard to argue that!

    -- Posted by Geologist on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 5:50 PM
  • what corruption in putnam county. no, say it isn't true!

    -- Posted by gottokno on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 6:11 PM
  • I believe that everyone that steals from someone should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, especially when it is an elected official that is stealing. Frisbie was sentenced to a slap on the wrist in that case. These women are being sentenced to much stiffer sentences. They stole from people that trusted them also but they were not elected to uphold the law. He should have been sentenced to more then he was. I am sure he will get a slap on the wrist for this DUI. The last time in AMO it was kept quiet and he was taken home by the police.

    -- Posted by browneyed girl on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 7:02 PM
  • Money in the right places effects the amount of punishment a person receives for committing crimes in the tightly connected law enforcement and judicial system of putnam county. YOUR VOTE CAN PUT YOUR MIND AT EASE!

    -- Posted by farmer on Sat, Jan 9, 2010, at 8:55 PM
  • SEND his but back to prison!. he still thinks he is above the law. steal from the county, now still spending county money: drunk driving (where our family could get hit and KILLED). PUTNAM CO. WAKE Up , get these people off our streets!..bet he use to drink and drive when he was sheriff, if drinking is a problem like everyone claims. had 2 months at a camp no less to get help.Bet there are drug programs in prison AA& NA.

    -- Posted by Sand mann on Sun, Jan 10, 2010, at 11:06 AM
  • I would think everyone should be praising the Indiana State Police for doing their job!And be questioning why the bowling ally allowed him to leave so drunk?THREE CHEERS FOR THE ISP!!

    Now that is said and done there is other agengys in town that needs to be checked into and cleaned up! So lets start working on them! Mark is becoming yesterdays news!.

    -- Posted by mamawfolck on Sun, Jan 10, 2010, at 3:07 PM
  • My thoughts when I read the story..."are you kidding me", "how arrogant", "whatever"..."where is he getting his money for bail and lawyers" "you mean you can challenge drunk driving that sent you to the hospital and blame others for your hardship"

    I have learned you can probably challenge anything if you have the money, you may not exactly win, but you can prolong sentencing, take in some relaxing rehab, and who knows... be forced the hardship of staying home again.

    -- Posted by Sputty on Sun, Jan 10, 2010, at 3:27 PM
  • HE does not NEED a license to look for a job, he can use Rural Transit just like the rest of us without a license!

    -- Posted by Redsonia on Mon, Jan 11, 2010, at 11:35 AM
  • First of all- if you have a blood alcohol level of .09 you shouldn't be on the road- PERIOD. But to have a blood alcohol of .27 it's a wonder how he didn't take out someone's car or better yet, how he even got out of the parking lot.

    Second of all- I lost a classmate my Junior year in high school. In fact, Mark was in office then so I'm sure he remembers it. When you get behind the wheel of a vehicle with a blood alcohol of .08 or higher I lose ALL respect for you as a person.

    Yes- he may have the right to file a challenge but that doesn't mean you HAVE to take that right and use it when you know you were in the wrong and admitted to it first off. In the end, it only makes him look even more stupid and desperate. I will pray for him that he can find it in himself to say yes I was wrong, yes I may committed traffic violations, yes I was three times the legal limit so yes I might have had issues driving properly. I also pray for him that he can find it in himself to look to God for help because by this point in a person's life- God is the only one who can help. May God Bless Mark Frisbie with a miracle.

    -- Posted by collegegirl2008 on Mon, Jan 11, 2010, at 12:22 PM
  • Isnt he married ? or have friends? why didnt he call one of them , since he was alone......the story unfolds

    -- Posted by Sand mann on Mon, Jan 11, 2010, at 3:06 PM