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Embattled former Blount County Magistrate Dustin Hatcher was arrested Tuesday night in conjunction with a 2006 incident during which he allegedly took lewd pictures of a 17-year-old girl in his office.
A representative at the Blount County Jail confirmed that Hatcher was booked into the facility at about 8 p.m., but the nature of the charges filed against him was not available. The jail employee said additional information would be given in a press release to be disclosed today.
Hatcher, son of Blount County Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher, was appointed as a magistrate by the Blount County Commission in February 2003. According to a federal civil suit filed by the 17-year-old accuser and her mother, on Dec. 1, 2006, Dustin Hatcher allegedly called the girl into his office at the Blount County Justice Center.
After she entered the room, the lawsuit claimed he shut the door and placed a sign on the outside indicating a meeting was taking place. He is accused of then coercing the girl into letting him take pictures of her in lingerie, and of her bare breasts as she put her clothes back on.
The civil suit alleged that when she protested, Hatcher told her, “You owe me” and “You can trust me.” According to the lawsuit, the girl did not feel she was free to leave during the incident, a situation the document called tantamount to “false imprisonment.” As a result, the suit stated, she suffered from emotional distress. Dustin Hatcher was also alleged to have shown the photographs he took of the girl to other Blount County employees.
The lawsuit was settled by the county on Jan. 10 for $45,000.
Hatcher resigned as magistrate — also called a judicial commissioner — on Dec. 2, after it was revealed he was under investigation in conjunction with the incident. The resignation was announced by his father’s office, which had supervisory authority over his position. The duty of a magistrate is to sign arrest warrants, approve some search warrants and set bonds.
Blount County Sheriff James Berrong reportedly turned the criminal aspect of the case over to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation due to a conflict of interest — because of the working relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and the Blount County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office.
A representative of TBI could not be reached for comment on the arrest, or the nature of Dustin Hatcher’s charges, late Tuesday.