Dismissed Tipton County sheriff: Falling in love with town
whore “a bad move”
By Jay
Schuckman, THG News
Hank George was considered
one of the finest lawmen in Indiana. During his tenure as Tipton County
sheriff, he received numerous awards for his courage and dedication to the job
and residents enjoyed one of the lowest crime rates in the entire state.
That is, until eight
months ago, when Sheriff George fell head-over-heels in love with the wrong
woman: Sharpsville whore Tammy Perkins.
The two first met when
George arrested Perkins for driving her 1977 Monte Carlo while intoxicated along
a dark stretch of U.S. Highway 31 and for possession of methamphetamine.
When reading Perkins her
rights, George noticed right away there was something different about this 23
year-old, something that made her stand out from other drunk whores he had
arrested in the past.
“Right off I could tell
Tammy was special,” said Sheriff George, “The way she was so cooperative and
charming despite blowing a .24 on the Breathalyzer and knowing she was going to
jail really blew me away.”
George was also physically
attracted to this young vixen. “She sure can fill out a pair of tight-fitting
jeans!” added the sheriff.
After booking Perkins and
letting her sober up, George struck up a conversation. After realizing he and
this woman, almost 30 years his junior, shared many of the same interests, it
wasn’t long before he felt himself falling for her. “I found out we both are
Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. fans!” exclaimed George. “That was the happiest day I had
had since my last divorce. I just knew I had found my soul mate. I didn’t care
that she had prior convictions for drug possession and prostitution. I just
knew the right man could straighten her up and that man was me.”
He also learned Tammy was
a single mother of four whose dream was to go to beauty school. George bailed
her out of jail with his own money and took her to her home in Sharpsville. Two
days later, George worked up enough nerve to ask Perkins out on a date, and
within a week Perkins and her children moved into George’s home in Tipton.
For three weeks, George
and Perkins seemed like the perfect couple, despite their nearly three-decade
age difference. They would watch NASCAR races on Sundays and take the kids to
the park to play. Perkins was able to stay clean, only drinking on the weekends
and laying off the crank altogether. George even kicked around the idea of
taking the next step of asking Tammy to marry him.
Then things suddenly
changed for the worse.
Perkins began using drugs
again after running into an ex-boyfriend who asked her if she wanted to get
high. She fell off the wagon and began using on a daily basis. George found
out from a friend that Perkins was prostituting again to pay for her habit.
“That nearly broke my
heart,” said George, “I thought she was over that. I wanted to send her to
rehab but she refused. She told me there was no way she was ever going to kick
her drug habit, so if I wanted to keep her, I had to accept it.”
And accept it George did.
No matter how many laws Perkins broke, George could not bring himself to arrest
her. “I loved her too much to see her behind bars. I guess it was a bad move,
falling in love with Tammy, but sometimes you can’t help yourself when Cupid’s
arrow hits you where the good Lord split you.”
Perkins took full
advantage of the situation and soon started a crime wave like Tipton County had
never seen. Drug trafficking, prostitution, and burglaries were rampant
throughout the area as Perkins and her friends committed crimes to raise cash
for partying and drugs.
“It was a blast while it
lasted!” said Vicki Wellmeier, a friend of Perkins. “We partied like rock stars
for weeks at a time. Too bad Hank lost his job and it all came to an end.”
After hundreds of crimes
in the county went unsolved, Tipton’s citizens had finally had enough and called
on the Indiana State Police to investigate Sheriff George.
State police officials
searched George’s home and found thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise and
drug paraphernalia. George was immediately fired from his job as sheriff by the
town council. At this time, police are still gathering evidence for his March
13 trial date.
When asked how he felt
about losing his job and the upcoming trial from his jail cell, George had only
these words to say, “Sure, I wished it would have gone differently but you can’t
underestimate the power of love. Tammy and I will get through this and will be
stronger for it.”
