Phil Summers
Craft on Monday filed a 52-page lawsuit in federal court in Rome.
Craft, 37, a former Chickamauga Elementary School kindergarten teacher, was charged with molesting three children and was acquitted of all charges on May 11 in Catoosa County Superior Court.
The 52-page lawsuit names 15 defendants, including the parents of the alleged girl victims and nearly everyone involved in investigating the case.
“Catoosa County, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, sheriff Phil Summers and detective Tim Deal deny any allegations of wrongdoing and state any claims asserted in the lawsuit are unfounded and will be vigorously defended,” the sheriff said in a written statement.
Craft claims the sheriff’s office, as well as other government agencies, violated her civil rights and questioning by officials was “intentionally designed to manipulate and/or harm the children.”
Here is the full text of sheriff Summers’ written statement:
“Catoosa County, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, sheriff Phil Summers and detective Tim Deal have been made aware of a complaint filed in a civil lawsuit against them and other defendants on behalf of Tonya Craft in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Neither Catoosa County, the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Phil Summers nor detective Deal have been formally served with the lawsuit and have only been made aware of its filing through recent media reports.
“Catoosa County, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, sheriff Phil Summers and detective Tim Deal are in the process of obtaining copies of the lawsuit and will meet with their attorneys to review the allegations in the lawsuit and begin preparation of their defense. It is the policy of Catoosa County and the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department to limit comments to the public and/or media on pending litigation. However, Catoosa County, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, sheriff Phil Summers and detective Tim Deal deny any allegations of wrongdoing and state any claims asserted in the lawsuit are unfounded and will be vigorously defended.”
You should hang your head in shame and hide, however your attitude and behavior are typical of what people without shame and without morals and without principles do.
Vigorously defend yourself? Surely you jest!
Can't wait until you actually get to look at the lawsuit in detail to see where exactly you are mentioned. Think media, here, Phil. You know like in UCTV, and all the other media outlets that you could give your pathetic perspective to. Think long, think hard... I'm sure it will come to you. After the not guilty verdict, you continued to insinuate that Ms Craft was indeed really guilty, and then proceeded to talk about those "other additional victims." Ha! See, some of us already know a little bit about these other supposed victims, and their wild tales were beyond unbelievable!
And then there's your employee, Det Deal, who you insist is fully qualified to conduct interviews and who you also claim is so well-trained. Really? You really think so? Hhhhmmm...
I know about you saying these things because I witnessed your appearance on UCTV myself. Perhaps, Phil, you can get a video of that show and review everything you said. Vigorous defense, huh? LOL
See, Phil, the way I see it is that you better hope and pray that you can somehow find a way to settle out of court and skip that whole vigorous defense idea because, frankly, it doesn't look so good for you. And just between you and me, if you STILL have no desire to admit to their being any type of problem whatsoever, then I sincerely hope that Ms. Craft rejects any type of settlement that you may have to offer so you can sit up on that witness stand. You might want to get used to that witness stand, since it seems that Eric Echols may just be following right behind Tonya... but I digress... we'll save that for another day.
Oh, and Phil, just want to tell you, that the citizens of Catoosa Cty are apalled at how you have served the very people who elected you. Shame on you, and may God take mercy on your soul because come next election, I won't.
SURELY after this the ones in charge will make major changes to the agencys involved to improve.
It will not be cheap for the taxpayers to foot the bill for the mistakes of elected officials, but it will be worth the pain to prevent mistakes like this happening in the future.
Watch all the officials closely to see how they respond.
Anyone with any integrity will look at this as a positive step. The ones in denial will need to be replaced.
If the Catoosa County Sheriff department had done a better job in investigating these allegations this would not be costing the County. The Sheriff department did a sloppy job along with the CAC.