John Coffelt, Editor

A petition filed June 20 in the Coffee County Chancery Court by Commissioner Joseph Michael Hodge alleges that two high ranking public officials falsely accused a county employee and Hodge of crimes in an attempt to force them to resign.

According to accusations in the petition, Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt and Sheriff Chad Partin met on separate occasions with former Administrative Assistant Connie Goethe and Hodge and accused them of illegally sharing documents from the mayor’s office.

The petition asserts that the two were accused by the mayor and sheriff after a meeting in which they were told by District Attorney General Craig Northcott on March 3 that no crimes were committed.

Northcott confirmed to the Times that the meeting had taken place.

“Because there had not been a crime committed at that point, that it was simply an issue of Mayor Hunt’s office policy not being followed to his satisfaction,” Northcott said.

“Anything other than trying to resolve it with Joe Mike Hodge, even if it resulted in a technical crime, there would be no prosecution because they could have avoided it.”

Northcott added, “I’m frankly disappointed and disgusted about how this has been handled and the implication of the misrepresentation of my position in trying to use my reputation and the authority of my office to further political shenanigans.” 

Northcott told the Times that Mayor Hunt told him during that meeting that “(Hunt) preferred to do a sting and setup Joe Mike Hodge and Connie Goethe – that that was their intention at that time.”  

Northcott said he has been asked to reevaluate the situation to see if a crime has been committed. Northcott will present his findings before the full commission.

“Nothing has changed,” he said.

The meeting and resignation of Goethe was on April 13, and an executive session was held during the May 13 County Commission meeting.

“(Hodge) was told (during an executive session) that the district attorney general was apprised of (Hodge’s) alleged criminal conduct and that the Coffee County Grand Jury would indict him,” the petition reads. “The county mayor and the sheriff stated that if (Hodge) resigned his commission seat, he would not face criminal prosecution.”

Hodge declined to resign. Following the executive session, the commission voted to task the county attorney to research ouster proceedings. A motion to remove Hodge from all committee assignments failed to pass.

Hodge’s petition says he sought to obtain public records from the Mayor’s Office related to Coffee County Planning Commission records compiled by the late County Mayor Judd Matheny. The petition said that Hodge approached Goethe to inspect the documents in February.

Records provided with the petition include a Public Information Request made May 16 by Hodge’s attorney Edward North to inspect a box sealed with clear packing tape of “all documents and things retrieved from the office of the late mayor, Judd Matheny.” That box was said to be sealed with the tape on April 14, the day after Goethe resigned.   

That request was denied on May 19, saying that the documents are in the possession of the Coffee County Sheriff Department “as evidence in a criminal investigation.”  

The petition says that Northcott “in no uncertain terms advised the county mayor and the sheriff that no crime had been committed by (Hodge) or (Goethe) and that neither… would be criminally prosecuted.”

The petition says that Hunt and Partin then lied to the County Commission and the county attorney about Hodge being criminally prosecuted.  

In Tennessee, emails related to official government business are considered public records and are subject to public records requests. This includes emails sent or received by public officials and employees, even if they are on personal accounts or devices. The Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) defines public records broadly to include “all documents…regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received…in connection with the transaction of official business.”

Sheriff Partin told the Times a crime was committed in the manner in which Hodge attempted to collect the documents.

Partin said he was not aware of the contents of the box, but was under the impression that it was items on Matheny’s desk at the time of his death.

Partin said the District Attorney General is looking at this as a criminal attempt, and if he plans to proceed with charges it’s up to that office.

Partin said that he has listened to an audio recording of the alleged interaction between Hodge and Goethe. According to Partin, the tape indicated a conspiracy to avoid cameras and Hodge was to wear a heavy coat to hide the package in.    

The tape had not been made available to the Times by the publication deadline.  

Goethe was unavailable for comment, and both Hodge and Hunt were contacted for comment but declined at this time.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.