Inmate accused of making 116 calls in violation of protective order

In late January, a Switz City man, who already had two criminal cases pending against him, was accused of calling a woman numerous times in violation of a protective order. He was charged with a Class A misdemeanor. Now he’s facing yet another charge for allegedly calling the woman 116 more times just since late January.

Mark Dickinson

Mark Dickinson, 40, Switz City, is an inmate in the Greene County Jail who now has four criminal cases pending against him.

In one of those pending cases, Dickinson was charged with:

• Criminal confinement, with moderate bodily injury, a Level 4 felony,

• Domestic battery, with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony,

• Intimidation – threat to commit a forcible felony, a Level 6 felony,

• Strangulation, a Level 6 felony, and

• Criminal recklessness, a Class B misdemeanor.

When Dickinson appeared in court in that earlier case, the judge issued a protective order to Dickinson ordering him to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case.

In late January, Dickinson was accused of violating the protective order by contacting the protected person by telephone numerous times.

This situation was investigated by Deputy James Carpenter of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department after he was advised by a detective that Dickinson had been calling the protected person.

When Deputy Carpenter checked the call sheets that log calls from telephones at the jail, he reported Dickinson called the protected person from an inmate telephone at 1:48 p.m. and 10:25 p.m. on January 2; at 10:37 p.m. on January 4; at 2:10 p.m., 2:13 p.m., 7:16 p.m., 7:34 p.m., 8:05 p.m., 9:40 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on January 5.

Some of the conversations that take place on inmate telephones are recorded and Deputy Carpenter reported that one or more conversations between Dickinson and the protected person included Dickinson trying to convince the protected person to contact the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office to change her story and ask for the case against him to be dismissed.

After information from Deputy Carpenter’s investigation was submitted to the prosecutor’s office, a criminal case was filed and Dickinson was charged with invasion of privacy in violation of a protective order, a Class A misdemeanor.

In late February, Deputy Carpenter was notified by the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office that Dickinson was continuing to call the alleged victim.

Deputy Carpenter said that since he filed the one count of invasion of privacy on Dickinson, he has called the alleged victim 116 more times.

Deputy Carpenter noted that Dickinson made contact on several occasions and had talked to the victim for times varying from 10-15 minutes.

Last week, yet another criminal case was filed against Dickinson, charging him with another count of invasion of privacy in violation of a protective order, a Class A misdemeanor.