Tim Scannell
It appeared that the public angst surrounding the case of County Attorney Tim Scannell and his romantic involvement with a then 17-yearold girl was subsiding a bit after his October 23 indictment on two felony counts of criminal sexual conduct in the 4th degree. The protestors who had set up camp every Friday in front of the courthouse since news broke about the December 4, 2012 restraining order against Scannell stopped calling for his resignation, waiting to see the outcome of the trial. However, records of interviews and search warrants made public by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) recently have raised public concern once again.
BCA interviews family members
According to court documents, the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to investigate allegations that Timothy Scannell had “an inappropriate sexual relationship” with the 17-year-old girl after her family was granted a restraining order against Scannell on December 4, 2012.
BCA Special Agent John Nordberg interviewed the father of the young girl on December 5, 2012 and he told the BCA agent that he had misgivings about Scannell’s relationship with his daughter several years earlier. The father said that Scannell was giving the teen guitar lessons at his home about three years earlier. The father said on one occasion when he dropped the girl off for lessons, Scannell approached him and stated he was not sure he should be alone with her.
As the investigation unfolded, the BCA interviewed Tara Scannell, the sister of Timothy Scannell. The BCA learned that Tara Scannell was the individual who originally reported concerns of a possibly inappropriate relationship between the girl and her brother to a Cook County High School counselor. In an interview with BCA Special Agent Jerome Konezcny, Tara Scannell listed reasons why she shared her concern, including a June 8, 2012 inadvertent redial in which she deemed an “inappropriate interaction” between her brother and the girl. She described the noises she heard as “breathing, some talking and wet noises.”
In the interview, Tara Scannell said her brother called her the next day, crying and saying he would never hurt the girl and that “he cared about her.” Tara Scannell stated that she called her brother’s wife, Lynn Swanson, to talk about the relationship, and she said Swanson tried to convince her to not report the incident because it would “ruin their lives.”
Interviews and emails reveal relationship
Interviews with parties involved continued. In a February 2013 interview with Special Agent Nordberg, the young woman involved told Nordberg that she and Scannell had “kissed and held hands” in the summer of 2012, when she would have been 17 years old. Asked if the contact had gone farther, she said Scannell had touched her chest on one occasion.
She also stated that she and Scannell texted and emailed each other often and used the chat function of the online game “Words with Friends.” She expressed concern about the emails becoming public because they were “intimate and emotional.”
The BCA investigation included search warrant requests for Scannell’s and the young woman’s facebook and email accounts. That led to the discovery of emails during the summer of 2011 to members of the summer tennis program, of which the teen was a member. The emails were related to tennis practice times and tournaments, however investigators found an email dated October 9, 2012 between only Scannell and the girl. According to the BCA, Scannell references his genitals in the email.
The BCA investigation results will likely be used in the case against Scannell, which will be heard by Judge Shaun Floerke in St. Louis County sometime in January 2014. A change of venue from the Cook County court was granted on November 12, 2013.
Scannell remains free on his own recognizance with the condition that he has no contact with the alleged victim or with any of the witnesses in the case.
Scannell supporters establish legal defense fund
Scannell and his staunchly loyal family have made appeals to the public for understanding, stating that Scannell’s actions had been caused by post-traumatic stress disorder after he was critically injured in a shooting in the county attorney’s office on December 15, 2011. Scannell first became the center of media attention when he was shot by a defendant he had successfully convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a teenaged girl.
A website has been established by family members to assist Scannell in his legal battle. The site at fundly.com/tim-scannell-legal-defense-fund has raised $5,000 to date.
On October 15, 2013, Scannell gave notice that he was leaving the county attorney’s office indefinitely on medical leave. As an elected official, Scannell will continue to be paid his full salary while he is on leave.
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