Duo back in Putnam County Jail after 15 years on run

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Having successfully evaded authorities for 15 years, a pair of former Putnam County residents were found last spring, living under assumed names, in Polk County, Fla.

With resolution to some of their court cases in Florida, Derrick Holman, 52, and Michele Cox, 49, both of Polk City, Fla., were booked into the Putnam County Jail on Sunday and made their appearance in Putnam Circuit Court on Monday morning.

The hearing was brief, a simple pre-trial conference in which Judge Matthew Headley set the bond for each defendant at $50,000 cash only, both having shown themselves to be flight risks.

Derrick Holman

Besides this, Holman and Cox said they will be hiring attorneys and the next pre-trial conference was set for Jan. 17.

What’s significant is that, according to court records, neither Holman nor Cox had appeared in Putnam Circuit Court since June 2003, when Judge Diana LaViolette still presided over the court and Headley was still the prosecuting attorney.

Fifteen years later they find the same sets of charges awaiting them.

Michele Cox

Holman is charged with Class B felony possession of a firearm by a serious felon, Class A felony dealing in cocaine, Class D felony possession of cocaine, Class D felony possession of marijuana, Class A misdemeanor criminal recklessness and Class B misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Meanwhile, Cox is charged with Class A felony dealing in cocaine, Class D felony possession of cocaine and Class A misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Under the Indiana sentencing guidelines applicable in 2003, Class A felonies are punishable by 20-50 years in prison, Class B felonies by 6-20 years, Class D felonies by six months to three years, Class A misdemeanors by up to one year and Class B misdemeanors by up to six months.

Any sentence would be eligible for two days of credit for each day served.

The original legal trouble started in Groveland back in the spring of 2003, when Holman allegedly displayed handgun during a neighborhood argument.

Interviewed by police, Holman said it was a BB gun, but admitted to having real guns in his home.

This prompted PCSD to request a search warrant, as Holman was a serious violent felon. In serving the warrant, police found multiple long guns and handguns, as well as cocaine and marijuana in the home Holman and Cox shared.

Both posted bail and as the court case began to play out, they apparently didn’t like how things were going.

“They both felt like they were going to get eight or 10 or 15 years in prison and they didn’t want to do that,” Putnam County Sheriff’s Department Det. Doug Nally said.

And so Holman assumed the identity of Eric Brewer, a Montgomery County man for whom he was doing construction work at the time, giving him access to the proper documents.

Cox assumed the Mechele Green identity, telling authorities upon her arrest that she paid $500 to use the name. That part of her story has not been corroborated.

They were seemingly home free for 15 years, selling their Groveland residence and traveling to Tennessee.

Getting new identification documents along the way, the duo assumed their new lives as Brewer and Green.

Both were charged with Class D felony failure to appear in January 2004, but they were long gone by then.

In 2008, they moved to Florida and bought a house under the assumed names, an action that would eventually catch up to them.

The current legal action began because the real Eric Brewer did a credit check and found his name linked to property in Florida.

He contacted police in Montgomery County and the information eventually got to the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.

Before being returned to Indiana for their 2003 charges, Holman and Cox had to resolve their Florida cases.

Both entered guilty pleas to the charges of fraudulent use of personal identification information and utter forged instrument. Holman also pleaded guilty to making a false motor vehicle insurance application and presenting false proof of motor vehicle insurance. Meanwhile, Cox pleaded guilty to utter forged counterfeit bill.

Each was given a 180-day sentence for the crimes, and given credit for all of the time served.

However, that merely opened them up to a return to Putnam County and the current case.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: