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The U.S. Army says a Fort Wayne attorney was not correct when he told a judge that a recruiter – possibly the judge’s son – misled a woman about the status of her criminal charges.
Defense attorney Al Anzini told Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull that his client had enlisted in the Army and left the state for training because her recruiter convinced her the charges had been dropped.
Gull recused herself from the case Wednesday after Anzini filed paperwork that appeared to show Gull’s son – Sgt. Cody Gull – was the recruiter. She had previously refused to do so because she believed the case only involved her son’s recruiting station, not her son.
On Thursday, Mary Auer, public affairs officer for the U.S. Army’s Indiana Recruiting District, said Sgt. Gull was not the woman’s recruiter. She also said numerous background checks, including one by the FBI, showed that the woman had no pending charges.
The woman herself – Ericka M. Anderson – also repeatedly told Army officers that she had no pending charges, Auer said.
“The defense attorney is a little bit mistaken as to what that form is and why Sgt. Gull’s name appears on it,” Auer said.
Sgt. Gull’s boss, Capt. Bobby Crocker, was Anderson’s recruiter, Auer said.
Anderson enlisted in the Army’s delayed entry program May 4, Auer said, but did not have to report for active duty until May 24.
The reason Sgt. Gull’s name is on her form, Auer said, is because he is part of a special regional test program where he stays in touch with all the enlistees from his station. It’s Sgt. Gull’s responsibility to go over a final checklist with everybody who enlists out of his station before they ship out for training, Auer said.
“His name appears on documents for everyone who since spring has reported for active duty out of that station,” she said. “At the time, Capt. Crocker first met Ms. Anderson at the end of April, she did tell him about charges and he did a police check at that time. It showed those charges had been dismissed.”
In February, Anderson, 22, of the 15000 block of Windover Trail, was initially charged with possession of a controlled substance, a felony, as well as resisting law enforcement, operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content higher than 0.15 percent and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, all misdemeanors.
Those initial charges were dismissed Feb. 8, the same day prosecutors filed formal charges against Anderson.
She’s accused of repeatedly wiggling out of police handcuffs during a traffic stop. Police said they also found prescription painkillers belonging to someone else in her purse, according to court documents.
Auer said Thursday she did not know how Crocker conducted the check nor did she know why the form, which states there are no pending court actions, shows an illegible signature of someone from the Superior Court whose title is listed as court clerk. No one in the Allen Superior Court clerk’s office or misdemeanor and traffic court office recognized the signature as that of an employee.
But that was not the Army’s only check, Auer said.
“When (Anderson) was processed for enlistment at a station in Indianapolis, there was an extensive background check done there on each prospective enlistee. Hers came up clean. It still showed those charges as dismissed,” she said.
“During the time she was in contact with Capt. Crocker and with personnel here in Indianapolis, she must have been interviewed six or eight times where, among the questions they asked would have been, ‘Do you have any pending charges or any outstanding court actions?’ Each time, she answered no.”
Anzini, Anderson’s defense attorney, declined to comment Thursday.
Anderson was discharged from the Army sometime after May 30, Auer said, but she did not know exactly why.
Judge Gull revoked Anderson’s bond last week before recusing herself from the case because Anderson did not show up for a pre-trial hearing. When Anderson went to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for Army training, she violated her bond because she did not have permission to leave the state.
Another bond hearing for Anderson has not yet been set. She’s scheduled to face a jury trial in August.
dwaugh@jg.net
