A man who had been developing a business in Gnaw Bone has been charged with four felonies after police say he hit three people with an ax handle after he accused them of stealing.
Jeffrey Tracy, 55, of Brownstown, was charged Sept. 10 with aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony, and three counts of battery by means of a deadly weapon, Level 5 felonies.
Tracy and his wife, Patricia Robbins Tracy, had been buying the Olde Time Flea Market property on contract. In early 2018, Jeffrey Tracy announced plans to turn it into Gnaw Bone Creek Trading Post, featuring a miniature golf course, petting zoo, indoor antique mall, primitive campsites and treehouse lodging.
Most of that plan has not panned out.
According to court documents, the property is to be sold at sheriff’s sale, and the Tracys have been barred from being on it.
Criminal case
On Aug. 30, police responded to the property on State Road 46 East after receiving multiple 911 calls about a man striking multiple people with an ax handle, according to a probable cause affidavit by Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Stargell.
The names of the victims were not included in the police report; they are only identified by number, and it is noted that one was a woman and two were men.
Stargell reported finding Tracy and a woman standing in the parking lot. There was a “large amount” of blood on her clothing and in the gravel, the affidavit said.
The woman told Stargell that Tracy had ordered her and two other people onto the ground and beat her with a stick while accusing them of stealing.
A person driving by the property had called 911 after seeing a man hitting a woman twice with what she thought was a golf club and taking her to the ground. That person stopped back by the flea market to give a statement and identified Tracy as the one who struck the woman, the report said.
Stargell reported the woman’s left hand was extremely swollen and blood covered from a large laceration. She also showed Stargell a large bruise on her back that she said was from getting hit by the ax handle. EMS told the woman she needed to remove her rings immediately due to the swelling and that she needed x-rays as soon as possible, the police report said.
The woman also reported to police that her phone shattered in her pocket after Tracy hit her in the thigh.
A male victim told police he had been struck in the back and leg with the handle. He asked to be checked out by EMS and was later hooked up to a heart monitor.
He said he was inside one of the buildings working on counters when Tracy told him to come out to his truck. The two other victims were down by the flea market when Tracy came to get them. All three said Tracy then accused them of stealing his items.
That alleged theft is now under investigation, according to the affidavit.
One of the men ran across State Road 46 East to escape Tracy, and the other man got into his truck to drive away. The woman was unable to leave before police arrived, the affidavit states.
Tracy claimed the incident happened in self-defense.
He told Sgt. Scott Bowling that he ordered the three people to get on the ground and that the woman began kicking and throwing gravel at him. Tracy said that’s when he grabbed the handle and struck the woman to keep her from kicking and throwing gravel, the police report said.
Stargell noted that Tracy had dirt on his shirt, but that it was more consistent with him wiping his dirty hands on it rather than having gravel thrown or kicked at him.
Another witness was sitting in a vehicle on the other side of the parking lot. She reported seeing Tracy try to hit one of the men with the handle and that the woman tried stopping him. That’s when Tracy grabbed the handle and started hitting the woman.
Tracy had accused one of the men of throwing a construction square at him. The man said he had the square because he was trying to keep Tracy from hitting the woman, the report said.
Police found the ax handle in the bed of Tracy’s truck with blood splatter and smears on it, the report said.
Tracy was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail that day. He posted two $5,000 bonds less than an hour later.
Civil lawsuit
Tracy and his wife, Patricia Robbins Tracy, have been locked in a civil lawsuit about this property and the items on it for several months.
In April, an emergency petition to cancel the contract, to take possession of the real estate and to remove the buyer was filed by land owner Charlie Placke’s attorney, Wanda Jones. It stated that Patricia Tracy, Jeffrey’s wife, had failed to pay rent for five months, equaling about $12,500 plus $625 in late fees.
Jones filed foreclosure documents on July 2, at which time Patricia Tracy owed $17,500 plus $875 in late charges, according to court documents.
Patricia Tracy had signed a contract agreeing to pay $125,000 down for the property, then monthly payments of $2,500, with the final payment due on Dec. 31, 2022.
The unpaid balance of the contract is $547,659.99, according to the July complaint.
Jones also argued the couple had not paid property taxes totaling $6,805.96.
Jones requested in the April petition that Judge Mary Wertz cancel the contract, remove the buyer from the premises and allow Placke to take possession of it again. Wertz denied that petition on May 29.
In her response filed April 25, Patricia Tracy argued that Placke showed up to collect rent at “inopportune times” and harassed her about it.
She also argued that Placke and his wife still had items on the property and would show up to remove them at inopportune times.
The contract states that Placke, as the seller, has the right to enter and inspect the real estate and the improvements at any “reasonable time.”
Patricia Tracy also argued that Placke had defamed their character and interfered in their business dealings with vendors, and that Placke prevented the couple’s “vision and dreams” for the property because he had refused to sign off on projects as the property owner.
In July, Zachary Miller withdrew as Patricia Tracy’s lawyer, saying that his firm had sent the couple a letter for services rendered in May that was not reconciled.
At a hearing in April, the court ordered Patricia Tracy to return a marble top dresser and four etched panes of glass to Placke. She was also ordered to not sell, convey, transfer or destroy two sheds, a railroad sign and the weenie wagon.
On Aug. 13, Wertz ruled that Patricia Tracy was in default of the contract; and that Placke could foreclose. The Tracys also were barred from the property.
The order stated that once a hearing is done to determine a judgment amount, the property would be sold at a sheriff’s sale.
The cause remains set for trial on Oct. 29 about damages and counterclaims. There will also be a trial on Patricia Tracy’s counterclaims which she filed in April.
Neither Patricia Tracy nor Jeffrey Tracy returned requests for comment before deadline.
