Two Indiana cops suspended after revelation they arrested candidate they thought was anti-police

The police chief and a lieutenant in Indiana were suspended after court documents alleged they faked drug and rape charges against a local city council candidate they thought was anti-police, then arrested him to stop him from running for office.

Brookfield Police Chief Terry Mitchum and Lieutenant Ryan Geiser were suspended with pay last Thursday after a July 19 hearing seemed to implicate them in a plot to prevent Trevin Thalheimer from running in the May 3 Brookfield town council election. 

The cops arrested Thalheimer in January, leaving him ‘blindsided’ and bedridden, and leading him to drop out of the election.

But those charges were dismissed in July when it was revealed they were baseless, and a witness testified Lt. Geiser had called her days before Thalheimer’s arrest saying they didn’t want him to run because he was ‘anti-cop.’

‘I knew politics was dirty, but I didn’t know I’d have to dumpster dive,’ Thalheimer told the Washington Post.

Brookfield Police Chief Terry Mitchum (left) and Lieutenant Ryan Geiser (right) were suspended after transcripts alleged they faked charges against Trevin Thalheimer

On January 27, Lt. Geiser paid a visit to Thalheimer’s house while investigating a reported break-in at a neighboring house Thalheimer was supposed to have been watching.

Geiser said he smelled marijuana at the house during the visit, and three days later returned with a search warrant and claimed to have found drugs on the property.

Thalheimer was arrested on drug charges on January 30, but during the arrest Lt. Geiser also claimed new DNA evidence had emerged in a months-old and unsubstantiated rape allegation, and Thalheimer was charged with rape, too.

Thalheimer was detained for about an hour, and said when he was released that his life in the small town of 2,500 people had been ‘destroyed’ by the charges.

‘It was hard, it was very hard, I laid in bed for ten days,’ Thalheimer told Fox 19, ‘I didn’t go to work, my job suffered, there was a lot of things going on at once.’

In the ensuing weeks, he decided not to run for town council election. 

The cops had arrested Thalheimer in January on drug and rape charges, leaving him ‘blindsided’ and bedridden, and decided not to run in the election

Geiser seemed to implicate himself in questionable policework during cross examination in the hearing when he said he didn’t know anything about the new DNA he had arrested Thalheimer for

But months later during Thalheimer’s July hearing, his friend Elise Whittamore testified that Lt. Geiser’s called her shortly before paying his January 27 visit to Thalheimer. On the call, she said the lieutenant asked that she run for the town council seat instead of Thalhaimer.

‘We don’t want him on the town board because he hates cops,’ Whittamore testified Geiser told her. Thalhaimer was then arrested three days later.

Geiser also seemed to implicate himself in questionable policework during cross examination when he said he didn’t know anything about the new DNA he had arrested Thalheimer for. 

Geiser testified he had heard about the DNA from another officer, but took it upon himself to arrest and charge Thalheimer for it despite not being involved in the investigation. 

Thalheimer’s attorney characterized Geiser’s actions as ‘unusual’ police work. Fox 19 reported they could find no record that DNA evidence existed.

Geiser also testified he had arrested Thalheimer on Police Chief Mitchum’s orders.

The Lieutenant testified he did not remember making a call to Whittamore, but agreed he did not like Thalheimer because he thought he was against the police force. He also said Chief Mitchum was ‘not a huge supporter’ of the potential candidate.

‘From everything that I’ve heard throughout the law enforcement community is that he wasn’t a fan of law enforcement,’ Geiser said in the hearing.

But Thalheimer insisted he had never been anti-police and had no idea where those perceptions came from.    

Brookfield Police Chief Terry Mitchum

‘I have never stated that I was anti-law enforcement. I don’t know where they got that impression that I was. I never had stated that,’ he told Fox 19, ‘I was under the impression that, you know, when it comes to the Brookfield Police Department, that they’re all fair guys.’

The Brookfield Police Department is the only in its jurisdiction that doesn’t require officers to wear body-cameras, a code the town council has the power to pass. Thalheim speculated that maybe the officers feared he would pass that requirement if elected.

‘I do have a bad taste in politics in my mouth,’ Thalheimer said when asked if he would consider running again, ‘But I do love the idea of serving the community. So that is to be determined.’  

Indiana State Police told The Washington Post a criminal investigation into the allegations against the officers was ‘in its earliest stages.’

Thalheimer and his defense attorney, Judson McMillin, said they considering a civil rights violation claim against the department.