Franklin informant tells story of police threats, harassment

FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) - For the first time, a former Franklin police informant is telling her story of sexual harassment and threats.

According to a lawsuit filed against the officers , Toni Twyman says she moved to Franklin to raise her three kids because she thought it was safe and a fresh start. She says she was sober in 2007, but admits she had trouble in the past with drinking. She had a DUI and the state was threatening to take her children.

So when Twyman thought a neighbor was trying to sell her son drugs, and she suspected her car mechanic also ran a meth lab, she called the cops.

The lawsuit claims instead of investigating, Detective Bryan Burton struck a deal. He promised if she became an informant and helped bust the two he would "get rid of" her DUI charge and "take care" of the custody issue with her kids.

"I felt trapped in a situation that I could not get out of," said Twyman. "He told me if I didn’t do what he said I'd go to prison."

Twyman says, as she worked as an informant, Burton, "repeatedly touched her breasts while fitting her with concealed audio wiring to record a drug deal."

The lawsuit says Burton, "exposed himself to her while waiting for a drug deal" and that Officer Ryan Mears photographed Burton, "holding a sex toy in her home when she was not home" and did not have permission to be in her home.

Twyman alleges Mears and Burton "placed a sex toy in her car and laughed when she unknowingly sat on it."

Twyman says Burton was put in charge of her, became her probation officer.

"He called me the next morning and said, 'I'm your daddy. You wake up, you call me. You go to bed, you call me," said Twyman.

This isn't the first time Burton has been in trouble. He was suspended in March when accused of drinking while on duty and giving alcohol to underage informants .

Twyman said she went to the police to bust the person she thought was selling drugs to her son but it all went wrong.

"I was going in to help my son and ultimately I lost him," she said. "It's hard for me to go on on a daily basis."

Franklin Mayor Fred Paris spoke to reporters in March 2010 saying, "Things happen to a community and its workers that are unfortunate and require action. But I also don’t think you throw away a career and a person for making bad decisions and stepping over the line."

Twyman and her lawyer say the main goal of the suit is to get Burton and Mears removed.

As for Officer Burton, with an internal record poor enough to have been demoted and suspended without pay -- he's currently paid on the job.