News Outlook Your Hometown Newspaper November 30, 2017 -, 9
By Cecil Lawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
Court records have
provided more details
in the case of a former
County Attorney who
was indicted on drug
trafficking charges by a
Bath grand jury earlier
this month.
The News-Outlook re-
ported in its September
21 edition that Donald
A. "Champ" Maze, 57, of
Owingsville, had been
arrested on drug posses-
sion and traffic violations
following a traffic stop on
Interstate 64 by Owings-
ville Police Office Justin
Sutherland.
In October a Bath
grand jury dismissed
the drug charge and re-
manded his case back to
District Coui-t.
On November 11, the
grand jury issued two in-
dictments against Maze
for further drug-related
charges.
Court documents in
Maze's case revealed a
more detailed account of District Court.
the circumstances sur- Court records stated
rounding Maze's arrest that the drug possess
on September 18 as well
as his later indictments.
Officer Sutherland
penned a four-page af-
fidavit that was attached
to three search warrants,
dated October 13, for
Maze's van seized in the
traffic stop, his AT&T
cell phofle, and his AT&T
cell phone records.
According to Suther-
land's affidavit, a coop-
erating witness, who had
provided information
that led to multiple drug-
related arrests earlier in
the day on September
18, told Sutherland that
Maze would be leaving
Owingsville in an older
model Ford van and was
carrying narcotics.
Sutherland noted that
he followed Maze from
Owingsville onto west-
bound 1-64 that after-
noon. He said that Maze
was not wearing a seat-
belt, was talking on a cell
phone, and kept drifting
over the fog line on the
interstate.
Sutherland said he con-
ducted a traffic stop on
Maze in the van. Maze
initially cooperated, but
Sutherland wrote that
Maze became nervous
after he requested assis-
tance from Police Chief
Todd Tout and K-9 Offi-
cer Bud Lyons.
K-9 Searcy "hit" upon
an area between the
van's front seats, and a
white crystalline sub-
stance was recovered
that field tested positive
for cocaine.
Maze was arrested and
charged with possession
of a controlled substance,
tampering with physi-
cal evidence, menacing,
reckless driving, and not
wearing a seat belt.
Sutherland wrote in
the affidavit that Maze
refused to enter Bath
County 911 Dispatch to
be processed with others
arrested on the same day
and was left in the custo-
dy of Bath County Jailer
Earl Willis.
Sutherland said that he
later discovered that Wil-
lis had allowed Maze to
talk to his ex-wife, identi-
fied in other court docu-
had directed Willis to
take Maze to St. Joseph
Hospital in Mt. Ster-
ling and then have him
placed in Montgomery
County Regional Jail.
(Bath County arrest-
ees are normally taken
to Clark County Deten-
tion Center.)
Maze was denied a
blood test at St. Joseph,
and the affidavit noted
that, once again upon
the direction of Maze's
ex-wife, that Willis trans-
ported Maze to Clark
County Regional Medi-
cal Center, which also re-
fused to perform a blood
test.
Later that same eve-
ning Willis took Maze to
Clark County Detention
Center, where he was in-
carcerated briefly before
being bonded out.
Maze's case was sent to
the October 5 grand jury,
where jurors returned a
report of no true bill on
Maze's drug possession,
evidence tampering, and
menacing charges. His
traffic violations were
remanded back to Bath Police
merits as Circuit Judge March 23, 2018, ruled
Beth Maze, and that she that Maze's van, keys,
and $600 cash be re-
turned to him, and re-
served ruling on a re-
quest to return his cell
phone.
Attorney Laws indi-
cated at the arraign-
ment that further charg-
es might be pending
against Maze.
On November 3 Judge
Chafin issued an order
for the return of Maze's
cell phone.
• He noted in the or-
der he was not sent the
warrant to sign despite
having been appointed
as special judge on Sep-
tember 21 and was never
provided with the copy
of the warrant. He also
wrote in the order that
the Commonwealth had
failed to establish a rea-
sonable cause that the
phone had been used to
facilitate a crime.
The Bath grand jury is-
sued two separate indict-
ments against Maze on
November 9.
The first indictment
was based on the tes-
timony of Owingsville
Officer Justin
charge was dismissed
because the Kentucky
State Police lab deter-
mined that the substance
to not be narcotic.
Maze and his attor-
neys, Michael Campbell
and Raymond Bogucki,
issued a press release on
October 10 which called
the traffic stop "unwar-
ranted" and that five sep-
arate drug tests showed
that Maze did not have
any drugs in his system
at the time of his arrest.
The release also de-
clared that Maze's work-
ers had used the van ex-
clusively in the months
prior to his arrest.
Maze was scheduled
to be arraigned in Bath
District Court on Octo-
ber 16 before specially-
appointed Judge Hart.
John T. Chafin, from the
24th Judicial District,
and specially-appointed
prosecutor Doug Miller,
from the lath Judicial
District.
Three days prior to
that, lath Judicial Dis-
trict Judge Charles
Kuster signed off on the
search warrants noted
above for Officer Suther-
land.
Court records indicate
that the search of Maze's
van by Sutherland on the
same day turned up a
used syringe, loose razor
blade, and other items
related to Maze's used
car business, Champion
Auto Sales.
Sutherland also said in
the affidavit that an ex-
amination of Maze's cell
phone records revealed
that he had been in con-
tact with "a number of
known drug users and
traffickers on September
18."
Maze was arraigned
in Bath District Court
on October 16 before
Judge Chafin and Spe-
cial Prosecutor Michael
Laws, who is Assistant
Commonwealth's Attor-
ney with Doug Miller.
Maze was represented
by attorneys Michael
Campbell and Raymond
Bogucki.
Judge Chafin sched-
uled a bench trial for
Sutherland and followed
from' 'the September
18 arrest. Maze was
charged with possession
of methamphetamine,
possession of drug para-
phernalia, reckless driv-
ing, and not wearing seat
belt.
A second indictment
issued upon the testi-
mony of Kentucky State
Police Detective Chad
Bowling charged Maze
with seven counts of first
degree trafficking in a
controlled substance,
including heroin, oxyco-
done, and hydrocodone.
These charges date from
a period from August 11
through August 30, 2016.
Judge Chafin entered
an order on November
14 dismissing the charg-
es for reckless driving
and not wearing a seat
belt against Maze.
Chafin issue the order
upon request of Special
Prosecutor Doug Miller,
who informed Judge
Chafin that Maze had
been charged in a super-
seding indictment on the
same incident.
Judge Chafin also can-
celed a March 23, 2018
bench trial in the same
case.
On the same day as
the indictments were is-
sued, Bath Circuit Judge
William Lane issued an
order requesting that a
special judge be appoint-
ed to Maze's cases.
Kentucky Supreme
Court Justice John D.
Minton appointed re-
cently retired Boyd
County Circuit Judge C.
David Hagerman to pre-
side over the case.
Indictment warrants
were served on Maze
by Bath County Deputy
Sheriff Wes Everman on
November 10.
According to the Ow-
ingsville Police Depart-
ment's Facebook page,
Maze surrendered him-
self to the Bath County
Sheriff's Office and
posted his $10,000 bond
that evening at the Bath
County Circuit Clerk's
Office.
Attorney Michael
Campbell filed an entry
of appearance for Maze
on November 16.
Court dates for Maze's
case have been not
scheduled at the time
the News-Outlook went
to press this week.
Maze served as Bath
County Attorney from
1990 to 2002. He was
Photo submitted
Donald A. "Champ" Maze
reelected in 2006 but
stepped down from the
office after he pied guilty
to vote buying and per-
jury in federal court
in 2007. He served 21
months in federal prison
on his charges.
He was permanently
disbarred from the prac-
tice of law in 2009 by the
Kentucky Bar Associa-
tion, an action that was
upheld by the Kentucky
Supreme Court in a 2013
appeal by Maze.
Maze is currently the
owner of Champion Auto
Sales in Polksville.
All individuals are con-
sidered innocent until
proven guilty or pleading
guilty in a court of law.
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