Man charged after altercation with woman
A Brown County man who was recently sentenced to serve two years on home detention in a drug dealing case now faces additional misdemeanors for confronting a woman on New Year’s Eve. Charges and a narrative of the incident were filed in Brown Circuit Court on March 21.
Police were dispatched to Parkview Church of the Nazarene to assist Brown County Community Corrections Officer Terry West after he reported that Chad Guffey, 39, of State Road 45, was ramming his girlfriend’s car in the parking lot. The woman had called West, screaming, “He’s attacking me, Terry! Help me!” West’s report said.
The woman told police she was on her way home from work when Guffey called and asked her to watch his child. She told Guffey she couldn’t do that and hung up.
She had cut through the parking lot to head home on Clay Lick Road when she saw a vehicle come up behind her at a high rate of speed, the report states. She told police the vehicle’s tires were screeching and it almost hit her vehicle in the process. The vehicle then drove up next to her door and Guffey got out, with the child inside. He began to yell and curse at the woman before taking her car keys out of the ignition and throwing them on a pole barn, according to the report.
Guffey then reportedly balled his fist and acted as if he was going to hit her. He went to get her car keys and threw them at her car window. He then got back into his car and drove it in her direction before reversing and going her direction again. This happened about four or five times, the affidavit states. He sped out of the parking lot onto State Road 46 East, then pulled up next to her again, the report said.
As the woman was trying to leave, Guffey put his arm through a small opening in the driver’s side window and was able to unlock the door. Guffey then reportedly took the car keys out of the ignition again and bruised the woman’s arm in the process, according to the affidavit.
He then repeatedly began to slam her car door while yelling profanities, and told her to put her head in between the door and frame, the affidavit states.
The woman reportedly begged Guffey to stop, and he walked away, giving her enough time to get a spare key from elsewhere in the vehicle and leave the parking lot. As she was driving away, she reported seeing Guffey “fly past a stop sign and fishtail onto State Road 46” with the child still in Guffey’s vehicle, the affidavit states.
West found Guffey at Brown County Tire. He told police he purposely confronted the woman in an aggressive manner because he had to work and needed someone to look after the child. When the woman told him no, he said he “lost his cool” and behaved in a way he shouldn’t have, the police report said. He said a verbal altercation occurred and that he had slammed the car door repeatedly out of frustration. He denied making any threats to the woman and denied telling the woman to put her head in between the door and door frame as he slammed it, the affidavit states. He also denied anything physical happening or that he used his car in an aggressive manner toward her.
On March 21, Guffey was charged with theft, a Class A misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor; unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle, a Class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor.
Owen County Prosecutor Donald VanDerMoere is handling this case in place of Prosecutor Ted Adams, since Guffey’s family has ties to local government and the sheriff’s department. Judge Mary Wertz also filed a recusal on March 27, according to online court records and the Brown County clerk’s office.
Guffey is serving a home detention sentence for dealing in a Schedule I controlled substance as a Level 4 felony and dealing in marijuana as a Class A misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty in November. His sentence also included probation.
West explained in an email April 4 that people on home detention are still allowed to “have employment and do whatever they need to for their jobs.”
A petition to revoke Guffey’s Community Corrections commitment was filed on March 25 and a warrant was requested. As of April 4, he had not been booked into the Brown County jail, according to jail staff.
Removed GPS monitoring device results in felony
A local man sentenced to serve time on house arrest in January now faces a felony after his case manager reported he removed his GPS monitoring device and left his home.
Last August, Matthew Stinson, 35, was sentenced to 460 days of work release through Brown County Community Corrections for a probation violation, according to a probable cause affidavit by Brown County Community Corrections Officer Terry West. In January, Stinson’s sentence was modified to go to home detention.
On Feb. 27, West went to Stinson’s home in the 6000 block of Crooked Creek Road. He reported that Stinson had removed his GPS monitoring device from his ankle and had left the home without permission, the affidavit states.
Stinson was charged March 15 with failure to return to lawful detention, a Level 6 felony.
