Brad Lamar Witham

MENTONE — A Mentone man faces multiple charges including resisting and intimidating law enforcement.

Brad Lamar Witham, 65, 4378 South CR 900W, Mentone, faces charges including intimidation of a law enforcement officer, a level 6 felony; battery of a law enforcement officer, a level 6 felony; and resisting law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor.

On Nov. 23, an officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Law Enforcement Division, responded to a report of deer poaching in the area of South CR 900 West near Mentone.

The officer spoke with a property owner who said his wife was hunting earlier in the morning and heard several rifle shots in succession. The couple believed someone was poaching deer, said the affidavit of probable cause.

The officer drove around the block and saw two individuals with a dead deer in a field. The officer then went to Witham’s residence. He told Witham about the two individuals who shot a deer in a field behind the residence earlier that morning. Witham gave the officer permission to park his vehicle at Witham’s residence and walk into the field to check out the scene.

The officer found a gut pile and blood where a deer was shot. While examining the area, a red Ford Ranger drove toward the officer’s position. Witham and another person then got out of the vehicle. The driver of the Ford Ranger said he was tired of the property owner calling in complaints and threatened to shoot the property owner, according to the affidavit.

The officer said he told the driver to calm down or he would be arrested for disorderly conduct. Witham then approached the officer and said he would harm the officer if he didn’t leave.

Witham then reached out with both hands and grabbed the front of the officer’s uniform in an attempt to take him down. The officer was able to instead take Witham to the ground and hold him there. Witham resisted the officer’s attempt to handcuff him. The driver of the vehicle told Witham to give him the keys to the vehicle. Witham gave the keys to the driver. The officer then handcuffed Witham, said the affidavit.

According to the DNR officer’s police report, the officer determined that Witham and the two other individuals were given permission to hunt from Witham’s property into the field east of Witham’s property, excluding a hill located in the field east of Witham’s property. The aforementioned deer was shot on the hill, the report said. The owner of the field said the Withams no longer had permission to hunt on the property.

Witham was booked on Nov. 23 in the Kosciusko County Jail. He has an initial hearing scheduled for Jan 17, 2020, at 1 p.m. in Kosciusko County Superior Court II.