A Washington County jail deputy has been arrested and accused of breaking the antenna of a truck at his apartment complex and slashing the vehicle’s tires with a knife, according to the Hillsboro Police Department.
Anthony C. Parker, 44, was arrested on one count of first-degree criminal mischief, a felony, said Lt. Mike Rouches, a Hillsboro police spokesman. A Washington County grand jury indicted Parker on the charge. He is scheduled to be arraigned next month.
Rouches said damage to the truck is estimated at $1,000.
Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff's office spokesman, said Parker was placed on paid administrative leave on Aug. 29 after the sheriff's office caught wind of Hillsboro's investigation. Parker, a 13-year veteran of the agency, turned himself in to authorities at the jail, Ray said, after he learned he was indicted.
Hillsboro police on Aug. 25 responded to an apartment complex in the 300 block of Northeast Autumn Rose Way, Rouches said. Parker lived in the complex at the time.
A man told police someone had vandalized his pickup truck. Police determined the incident occurred about 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 24. A second vehicle in the parking lot, Rouches said, had one of its mirrors pushed in, but it was not damaged.
Officers found that three tires on the man’s truck were slashed and the antenna was broken. A witness told police he observed a man, who appeared intoxicated, in the parking lot the night of Aug. 24, Rouches said.
The witness, who watched the incident from an apartment window, told police he saw a man arrive at the complex with a woman, go to an apartment, and then come back to the parking lot, where he was wandering around, Rouches said. The man reportedly matched Parker’s description, and the witness said the man was near an apartment, which police identified as Parker’s.
Police talked to Parker, who denied being involved, Rouches said. Investigators recovered a knife from the scene, Rouches said, and collected the weapon and fingerprints as evidence to be forensically analyzed.
The knife was analyzed for DNA, Rouches said, and the DNA matched Parker. Ray, the sheriff's office spokesman, said the evidence was touch DNA.
"It is a critical piece of evidence that ties Mr. Parker to the crime," Ray said.
Rouches said investigators aren’t sure what sparked the incident. Parker and the victim did not know one another.
“There was nothing that precipitated the event,” Rouches said, referring to Parker and the victim. “No words between them.”
Rouches said Hillsboro police have not had problems with Parker at the apartment complex before.
Parker was arrested Tuesday afternoon, after turning himself in, authorities said. He was booked into the jail and then released. He has a court appearance scheduled for Dec. 13.
The sheriff's office has started an internal investigation into Parker, Ray said, and the agency expects to finish it in the coming days. He said internal investigators were waiting for the criminal inquiry to wrap up.
Sheriff Pat Garrett released a statement about the matter through Ray.
"The sheriff's office does not compromise on the high standards of integrity that the public has a right to expect," Garrett said. "When those standards are compromised, the employee is held accountable for their actions."