INDIANAPOLIS — Embattled Center Township Constable Denise Paul Hatch was arrested Saturday night for allegedly carrying a gun in violation of judge’s order from a previous felony case.
Hatch was stopped by IMPD Special Investigations Unit detectives in the 1800 block of Lafayette Road after the constable and several of her deputies served as off-duty security for a private event nearby.
Hatch has been charged with unlawful carry of a handgun, a misdemeanor, violation of a protective order, a misdemeanor, and official misconduct, a felony.
As of this article’s publication, the Constable remains in the Adult Detention Center. A magistrate has set her bond to $25,000 cash, a higher-than-typical bond.
Hatch is due for an initial hearing Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
The handgun and protective order counts Hatch faces would be violations of a judge’s Feb. 29 order that Hatch not possess a firearm.
During her arrest Saturday night, one block north of the location of the private event where Hatch and her deputies stood watch, police confiscated a nine millimeter Glock handgun with three rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber, a holster and handcuffs, two constable ID cards and a constable badge on a chain around Hatch’s neck, a MECA radio and soft body armor.
Hatch’s vehicle was also towed.
The Constable’s private vehicle being seized held special irony for Paul Woods, a former Center Township deputy constable who was fired last week after Hatch reported that he stole a car he loaned to her office as an official vehicle.
”We were still a deputy constable and we notified her on a Sunday, ‘Hey, we need to retrieve that vehicle and put it back in the company’s name because we need to use it,’” Woods said. “And she got used to it and didn’t want to give it back and went as far a step as to call it in stolen, and I had to go through the whole thing and show the police department the paperwork, which is shenanigans.”
Woods said he will meet with an IMPD detective Monday to request that an official misconduct charge be filed against Hatch for allegedly knowingly filing a false stolen car report against him for retrieving his own vehicle from her possession.
Woods said he was not surprised by Hatch’s most recent arrest.
”Unfortunately, I think she thinks some of this stuff doesn’t apply to her due to the word ‘elected’ to her means much more than it really does,” Woods said. “She just gets carried away with it.”
Woods himself was recently defeated in the May democratic primary election for Pike Township Constable after performing deputy constable duties in Center and Washington townships and serving as a deputy town marshal and police officer.
”The primary job is to serve the court papers, act as bailiff of the court and keep the peace when necessary,” he said. ”There are certain things that you can enforce, infractions are not one of them, but misdemeanors and felonies that are done in your presence, you have a duty to act.”
Woods said that “duty to act” when witnessing a felony could also include the responsibility of Hatch’s deputy constables to report she was wearing a gun in violation of a court order if they so witnessed.
In the last year, the Center Township Small Claims Court, having lost faith in Hatch’s ability to carry out the duties of her office, assigned typical deputy constable responsibilities, like serving legal documents and eviction notices, to deputies of Marion County’s eight other township constables.
Last fall, Hatch ordered the arrest of the court’s bailiff on an allegation of impersonating a police officer and another person for interference.
The Marion County Sheriff refused to take custody of those arrestees and they were returned to work the same morning as the charges were dropped.
The Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency suspended the Center Township Constable’s access to Marion County’s public safety radio system after a deputy constable was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm when it was determined he was a convicted felon.
Hatch faces a felony charge of official misconduct and misdemeanor charges of attempted assisting a criminal and attempted resisting law enforcement for her alleged involvement in the effort to thwart that deputy’s arrest.
Hatch also faces an official misconduct felony and a theft misdemeanor for the alleged theft of food from a grocery store.
It was as a result of that felony that Hatch was prohibited from accessing a firearm while charges are pending.
Before a recent pre-trial hearing at the Community Justice Center, Hatch was involved in a screaming match with Marion County Sheriff’s deputies who sought to bar her deputy from entering the building. The deputy constable was accompanying Hatch in a non-official capacity, and witnesses reported that Hatch threatened that she would someday be elected sheriff and would fire the deputies.
Woods said that Hatch has hired professional deputy constables, including retired police officers, but often refuses to follow their advice.
”For the most part, it’s been a tumultuous time, a revolving door with deputies in and out,” he said. “She has a good staff of people with a lot of experience, but unfortunately, when you give her input, at the end of the day, it’s her choice. And then a lot of times she’ll just say that she don’t wanna do that, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.”
Woods said that, while other township constables carry out their duties aided by a half-dozen or so deputies, Hatch’s staff has ballooned.
”The last I heard or saw it was about 45, and she’s still hiring,” he said. ”I think if you added them up all together in all the other townships, I still don’t think you would have 45.”
Woods said her experienced deputies tried to caution Hatch against hiring excessive staff.
”Her main answer, when we questioned it, and said, ‘Why would you want that many and you can’t manage them?’ her comeback was always, ‘There’s no law that says I can’t.’”
Deputy constables are part-time employees who often utilize their limited law enforcement powers and designations to be hired as off-duty security at event centers, stores, apartment complexes and construction sites.
Hatch has described her hiring and staffing decisions as an example of restorative justice that provides a second chance to previous offenders who have been shut out of law enforcement careers.
FOX59 has been provided photographs of a deputy constable’s vehicle, bearing a municipal license plate and the star logo of a “Marion County Deputy Constable,” parked in mobile home park near Huntington, Indiana, which is more than a 90-minute drive from Center Township. The vehicle was supposedly possessed by a deputy constable whose felony criminal conviction has reportedly been expunged.
When pressed as to the value such a deputy constable could bring to Center Township living so far away, one source said it was an example of Hatch’s attempt to beef up her roster of deputies while fulfilling her restorative justice mission.
Woods said Hatch recently dismissed the force and directed them to reapply for their jobs, in effect, bringing back the same deputies after supposedly engaging in a more intensive hiring process.
”The same felons that she said she was going to get rid of, they’re back,” said Woods. ”Your credibility is always gonna be in question, and nobody’s gonna take that serious with that felon behind your name.”
Woods observed that Hatch did not have a law enforcement background or training when she was elected and then sworn in on Jan. 1, 2023.
“Never being in this type of arena is akin to giving a kid, a 16-year-old with keys and never taking him out and practice on the back roads before you put them on the highway,” Woods said. “This is just a trainwreck or car wreck waiting to happen. And every other week there’s a car wreck with one of these deputies doing something because she can’t manage them, and she’s not listening to the people who have the background to assist her.”
Sunday afternoon, the Constable’s Public Information Officer released the following statement to FOX59 and CBS4:
“The Center Township Constable’s Office is aware of the arrest of Constable Hatch, and is currently gathering information regarding this matter. The Office is dedicated to serving the public lawfully in her absence until this matter is resolved.”
Other township constables have told FOX59 and CBS4 that they fear state lawmakers may take action to reign in the authority and training of constables and their deputies as a result of Hatch’s actions.
”I would be surprised if we don’t see something come down the pipe as far as the number of deputies you gotta have or what kind of training they gotta have,” said Woods. ”The other townships are fed up with it and can’t wait for something to be done, but it’s kind of an elective official position, so you gotta stay away from them, but they grumble in the dark and say they wish something would happen.”
Under Indiana law, a felony conviction does not disqualify an elected official from finishing out their term, and the state does not have a recall process.
