The Return of the Trophy Girlfriend

[XLFD]

"A Ludington area schools teacher was arraigned Thursday on a charge of malicious destruction of property [MDOP] of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000 by Magistrate Glenn Jackson III.
Kelley Rae Chapman, 54, was arraigned on the charge following an incident on Monday in Ludington, according to a press release by Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Spaniola.
According to the release, the maximum penalty on the felony charge is five years in prison or a $10,000 fine or three times the amount of destruction of injury, whichever is greater.
Jackson set the bond at $5,000, 10 percent deposit.

A preliminary exam is scheduled for 11:15 a.m., Wednesday, March 25, at the Mason County Courthouse.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Ludington Police Department.
According to the initial report, Chapman allegedly went to a home at 6:52 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of Lavinia Street.
The victim, a 53-year-old man, asked Chapman to return a trophy to him, according to the report, but instead she allegedly used it to vandalize his car."

This was reported in the local paper, a similar report with less information was in the Mason County Press. Both accounts had me wondering a few things, including:

1) Why was Chapman's teaching profession prominently displayed in both headlines when the incident apparently has nothing to do with her job?
2) The prosecutor's press release indicates she maliciously destroyed property, but has no indication of malice, intent, or the nature of the destruction (other than it was car damage). Why is this not shared, when an irrelevancy like her job is?
3) What would make an experienced and otherwise well-thought-of teacher behave in the manner suggested?
4) Should folks be afraid to have Ms. Chapman teach their children like these articles imply?

Since neither the prosecutor or the local news media wanted to let the public know the answer to these questions, I decided to find out through my favorite tool of transparency, the FOIA request.

I received an answer from the Ludington Police Department (LPD) who supplied me with the incident report and supplements, which included photographs of the scene, a damage estimate, and a written statement of the victim of the alleged MDOP. These are included at the end of this article, certain points will be highlighted before that in analysis of the above questions, and others that crop up with the additional data.

The responding and investigating LPD officer was Austin Morris. I recalled that Morris was the first officer to take a forgivable loan from city hall in order to go to police academy last year. As such he is still in his first year as a certified officer, a rookie, who is more prone to make mistakes due to inexperience, lack of life experiences, or lack of supplemental training in aspects of investigations.

Any officer can make mistakes due to their own personal biases, and I think Morris' detective work suffered due to his not realizing that the underlying complaint was a domestic disturbance between a man and woman in their 50s who had just broken their relationship for some reason still unknown. In such situations, both sides should be looked upon with some suspicion, since either could be stretching the truth in order to harm the other party who has changed from much-loved to much-hated because of something coming between them.

So when Christopher Pontz called the police before 7 AM on the morning of March 2nd, reporting that Kelley Chapman came over to the house and started beating his car with a trophy, Officer Morris should have skeptically but dutifully took down all of the details, took photos of the 'crime scene', and took inventory of anything that may come into play if Chapman denied any or all of the allegations.  Here are some of the pictures he took:

We effectively see the car that was damaged and the damage (in the far right photos) to the driver's side from what could have been the trophy lying right next to it.  Pontz tells a credible tale of how he heard banging, went to the window to check it out and saw Chapman pounding the side of his car before driving off.  Pontz wouldn't go outside, but called 9-1-1; his fear of Chapman led him to eventually file a Personal Protection Order (PPO) against Chapman (which was denied according to court records I inspected Wednesday).

The COLDNews had this incident happening on Lavinia Street, but Chris Pontz owns the home at 108 Franklin, and this perfectly matches the house in the background and the surrounding homes. 

Taking a look at this address after dark, it was very poorly lit and the angle of the side or front windows would make it impossible to actually see her connecting blows with the driver's side as the car would be between them.  The lighting would have been insufficient since the time this happened was exactly at dawn, and he was looking westward, and street lights in the area are fairly remote and muted.  He could only see her as anything more than an indistinct figure if her car lights were shining eastward. 

Finally, Mr. Pontz showed Officer Morris a text message from Chapman, where she indicated that she dropped off the trophy, and it may have scratched his car a little.  Officer Morris took all of this damning information down and located Ms. Chapman at her apartment.  Chapman would admit to going to Pontz's residence and throwing the trophy near the car and that it may have hit it.  She would insist several times that she never got out and hit the car with the trophy as Pontz stated.

Officer Morris would explain that he thought it would be impossible for her to throw the trophy that far, that such a throw wouldn't explain the multiple dents in three places, and that it appeared to him that Chapman wasn't being truthful with him.  Morris would end the investigation there and  would swear to an arrest warrant the next day, where Asst. Prosecutor Kreinbrink authorized it and Magistrate Jackson approved it.  

Yet, his investigation should have continued.  For if we were to believe her story, rather than his (and this is definitely a form of the 'he said-she said' incident as no other witnesses were present), then he should have considered the following:

1) It would have been impossible to throw the trophy out the window from the road, however, if she had driven up the driveway roughly parallel with Pontz's car she could have reasonably made the toss.  

2) Such a move would have likely left tire prints matching her car in the driveway, likewise if she had parked there, Pontz would have light to see 'something' after hearing the bangs, which may have been a trophy hitting the car and then the ground.  

3) If she had gotten out and moved to where she could have swung the trophy at the car, there would likely have been some of her footprints in the slushy snow of that day.  These were never checked.

Officer Morris never considered another possible outcome with the fact set provided, where she was telling the truth and he was fabricating facts.  What if, she had thrown the trophy out of her car and it hit the side of Pontz's car, then drove off.  Pontz, finding the smashed trophy and dent in his car, figured he would get back at Chapman for busting the trophy and dinging his car by adding more dents and adding a narrative that gave her spite and intent so as to have her get in serious trouble.  

A good defense attorney would recognize this as effectively unprovable beyond a reasonable doubt with the given record by showing that Pontz had a clear motive in lying about what happened and had opportunity to frame Chapman when considering she threw his trophy with wanton disregard for it or his car to punctuate the breakup.  

Officer Morris, rather than pushing forth a warrant with an incomplete investigation should have considered the alternate as a potential scenario and did the tests that would prove or disprove it, which would include:

1) Examining and recording tire prints in driveway (for the purpose of seeing whether it was a possible throw and to validate Pontz having enough light to see what he did)

2) Examining and recording footprints in the slush (for seeing whether or not she got out of her car or whether it was only his footprints in that area)

3) Re-interviewing Pontz as a skeptical party and reenacting what he claimed he saw that morning, with Pontz playing the part of Chapman.  

Adding fuel to this alternate scenario, Mr. Pontz got an estimate for damages the very next morning, that totaled over $8000 for repairing the various dents and dings.  This pushes the punishment for the crime into a felony rather than a misdemeanor, yet this is a 2006 vehicle worth half of that estimate (considering it was in good condition):

Coincidentally, having a few dings in the door would likely knock its rating down one level to fair and its value down by around $500, according to the same source.  One could easily infer that the damage was cosmetic and under $1000, since few people would make an $8000 'elective' repair on a 15 year old $4000 car unless they were having someone they disliked pay the bill.  Also, $500-$1000 in damages would only be a misdemeanor and this wouldn't teach his ex a lesson.

Chris Pontz will also not be happy that Officer Morris took a picture of his phone where he was called horrible in bed.  Just gross.  I guess we know what the trophy isn't for...

Unless Kelley Chapman volunteers the admission that she had spiteful intent on damaging his 15 year old car, the court will find her innocent of the charge, the higher likelihood is that the misdemeanor charge of MDOP will be plea bargained as a compromise in an issue that should have probably been left alone in criminal court.  This issue is more of a Small Claims Court case where Chris Pontz should be able to get justice and a monetary judgment with the lower standard of proof needed; other than what he's after, which appears to be a pound of flesh. 

Just gross.

20-982 IR

20-982 Photos

[Du Wright]

The lady admitted to the officer that she "threw" the trophy out the window as shown in the police report. Cannot discern tire tracks or footprints in the snow or grass next to the parked vehicle so it sounds fishy that she could have thrown it from the street. I think she had a "Louisville slugger" moment with discretion. Much more damage could have been done. The man seems to be extremely exaggerating the damage. Except that she is a teacher, this would not have made news. It's the way it is: a teacher is a public figure whose actions are under continual public scrutiny but her employment should not affect her conviction. She should be fairly judged accordingly as anyone else would, without huge exaggeration of damages. It doesn't even look like she "threw" the trophy very hard or there could have been a lot more damage. The rest is drama that shouldn't make news.

[XLFD]

My own personal belief of what happened, based on review and my own biases, was that she went to his house, threw the trophy at the side of the car to make a statement and texted her deed to Pontz, who looked at the one dent and decided to exact his own revenge by embellishing the damage and the narrative so as to make it hurt her.  If she sticks to her story and her attorney can sell the plausible alternatives, she should be able to defend herself in court.

But a lot of damage to her reputation has been done out of court, damage that cannot be easily replaced.

[Du Wright]

I agree, XLFD, that damage to her reputation has been done linking her name to her position of employment, and unfortunately by sensationalization of the story through news media, but for, she wouldn't have been in the situation if she had made the
decision to "reasonably protect" his property instead of throw it into his car instead. Imo, it was a bad act, and not befitting a teacher who serves the public.

In this small town, if the news media had not attached her employment to her name, I think it would have had less attention until someone said, "hey that's my kids teacher" and who is manipulating the news to cover it up? For example, when a (no-name) former (public figure's) spouse recently got caught for a couple of DUIs last summer, cop battering, destruction of property, and escaping handcuffs was his/her "position" attached to the report? I don't think so, but everyone knew fairly quickly by social media. Be sure your deeds will find you out, especially in a small town, especially with today's social media. I do think the news media has been inconsistent with reporting names to position based on their bias, benefit or payoff as shown in the example above.

[Willy]

Another huge waste of the police and courts time and resources. Your right X this was simple case of he said she said after a break up of a relationship. Unless she is a psychotic I would have never called the police and I certainly would not have falsified documents to pump up the cost of repairs. That being said, Instead of wasting time on an attorney she should give the guy some money to fix his tiny dents if she wants this to go away, then apologize and see if she can get the charges dropped. Some cash now can save a lot of future grief.  The fact that she admits to being there and threw the trophy at the car makes her appear guilty of some damage but how much is the question.  As far as the reporting goes, her profession is completely irrelevant and putting that in the article was absolutely unnecessary. That reporter will fit right in with the fake news crowd after he hones his craft a little more, by adding sensationalism to  his reporting.  Good analysis Mr. X and Du Wright.

X, did you get the lower picture of the house off the internet because the houses do not match. The house above has a chimney but lacks a dormer/roof at right while the lower house has a dormer or at least part of a roof on the right side and no chimney. It's possible a tree branch is blocking the view in the lower photo.

[XLFD]

The lower picture of the house is from the city assessor's website, it was taken in summer probably several seasons ago, and the chimney is obscured by leaves.  If you review the photos, they have a picture showing distinctive houses across the street that match up with the ones that are across from Pontz's house. 

Thanks for agreeing with my assessments of the situation, I think that if Officer Austin Morris stays in the policing business, he will learn eventually that any investigation must cover all of the potential bases, and that domestic disturbances are often among the most complex situations to fathom, as you're judging the veracity of the parties.  In property issues of almost all types, the best bet is to have them figure it out civilly in small claims if they can't reach a compromise.  You generally won't solve anything by leveling criminal charges when the elements of the crime aren't readily apparent and the evidence is sketchy.

[shinblind]

Boils down to the repair estimate. The estimate shows damage to 3 sides of the auto not just the damage to the side door in the photo. That the 4th side wasn't damaged looks like it was parked to close to the house to get a good swing with the trophy. 22 days to repair and 71 hours labor do add up fast. 

Willy if you believe the accused occupation isn't relevant did you also feel the same way about when Michigan State Police Trooper Sammy Seymour was arrested for drunk driving? What about West Shore Community College President Dillon? I believe that anyone in a position of public trust it is noteworthy to mention their occupation.

[Willy]

Sammy and Dillon were engaged in dangerous activities that could have severely injured or killed someone. While Chapman had a spat with her boyfriend which should have remained between the two of them but her boyfriend wanted to make a big deal about it. It's to bad a compromise can't be reached.  I agree with X. She most likely won't be found guilty but as I said she will need an attorney so instead fix the car at a fair and reasonable cost, apologize then shake hands and say good bye.  

[XLFD]

Shinblind,

I reviewed the estimate and the other records, the police report only states that body damage is on the driver's side front and back door panels, but the estimate contains a host of other repairs of problems that were not noted by the officer, nor apparent in the photos.  As Willy noted, this estimate is fraudulent when you consider the damages actually made that morning and the document should damage Pontz's overall credibility as to the loss of value in his wheels.

 

[shinblind]

Kelley Rae Chapman, 53, of 227 Lakeside Dr., Ludington, was found guilty on May 13 of malicious destruction of personal property and was sentenced to two days in jail with two days credit for time served; 30 days discretionary jail for six months; $595 in costs and fines.

[XLFD]

Thanks for the update, she actually lucked out in a way, because the schools closed for the rest of the year just after this and she should get a nice regular paycheck until they re-open again-- many people will be too decimated by the shutdown's effects and the 'new normal' to remember this transgression.

[Willy]

Thanks for the update shinblind. Did she cop a plea or go to trial? Also was there any mention of paying for damages to his car?