90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After star David Toborowsky has had difficulty finding employment after returning to the US, due in part to the fact that he doesn’t feel that the jobs he has been offered are worthy of someone with a Master’s Degree. David’s best friend Chris Thieneman reportedly went so far as to offer David the job of managing his new Fort Knockers restaurant, but once again, David turned it down. Chris now seems to be going the extra extra mile for his BFF by attempting to create a position for David in the Louisville Mayor’s office — by running for Mayor himself!
Chris Thieneman made the announcement that he is running for Louisville Mayor as an Independent candidate on August 14. “Vote Chris for Mayor of Louisville in November!” the former football star wrote on Instagram, along with an old photo from his previous run for Louisville Mayor. Wait, what? Yes, Chris has quite the history of running for political office. Unfortunately, his record is a little less than stellar. According to Insider Louisville, Chris “ran unsuccessfully for Jefferson County clerk in 2002, U.S. Congress in 2008 and Louisville mayor in 2010. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Perry Clark in 2012 in a state Senate race.”
Of course I was joking about Chris’ motivation for running for Mayor as the actual reason is a lot more serious than just finding David a job that he would accept. Chris entering the mayoral race is fulfilling a promise he made in May as part of his ongoing campaign against Louisville’s incumbent Mayor, Greg Fischer, and his actions (or lack thereof) in regards to a sexual abuse scandal involving the Louisville Metro Police Department and their youth Explorer Scout program.
Here is a “brief” recap of the scandal:
In late 2016, a 22-year-old man referred to as N.C. alleges that he was sexually abused by police officers Kenneth Betts and Brandon Wood while enrolled in the Explorer Scout program. Soon after the lawsuit was made public in March of 2017, and after reports of a potential cover up by police, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer hires former US Attorney Kerry Harvey to do an independent investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department’s handling of the allegations.
In April of 2017, Officer Brandon Wood is fired after being indicted on seven counts of sexual abuse. He pleads not guilty to the charges. Officer Kenneth Betts is indicted on two counts of sodomy. He resigns and also pleads not guilty.
At least four additional former members of the Explorer Scout program have come forward with their own lawsuits alleging they were abused or the victims of sexual misconduct.
The “scandal” aspect gains momentum in November of 2017 when Police Chief Steve Conrad says that he briefed Deputy Mayor Ellen Hesen in 2013 and 2014 on allegations of sexual misconduct in the Explorer Scout program. Current Mayor Greg Fischer insists that he knew nothing about the allegations until after N.C.’s lawsuit was filed in late 2016.
In June of this year, Kerry Harvey released the findings from his investigation. The report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to suggest there was a cover up by Chief Steve Conrad or other commanders. The report did provide a list of “violations of policy and mistakes in judgement, some significant.” The list, which you can read a detailed summary of here, essentially stated that there were indications that there was a potential problem of sexual abuse in the program that should have been looked into more than they were.
Just last week, a federal judge released the names of four additional officers named in the lawsuits. “The newly identified defendants are accused of negligent training and supervision rather than sexual misconduct,” The Courier Journal reported.
Chris Thieneman has taken up the plight of the alleged Explorer Scout victims as a personal crusade, and in addition to the Mayor and the police chief, Chris also singled out Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell for his role in the matter. And when Chris singles you out, he doesn’t play around! From Insider Louisville:
In May, Thieneman had asserted that O’Connell, Fischer and Conrad attempted to cover up the LMPD’s Youth Explorer sexual abuse scandal. He occasionally followed the county attorney with a mobile billboard and live Facebook videos making the same accusation, with O’Connell twice snapping back at him by bringing up his past legal troubles.
At the time, Thieneman said that if O’Connell won his primary — which he did the next day — and Conrad wasn’t fired, “then I’m going to put all of my effort into getting some justice and trying to get this city on the right path with leadership.”
A photo of Chris’ mobile billboard:
Chris would later take his vendetta against O’Connell to the courts by filing a defamation suit against him after O’Connell referred to Chris as a “sexual predator” in reference to Chris’ previous arrests involving his ex in 2013 in 2014. “He was convicted of trying to strangle his then-girlfriend,” O’Connell said of Chris in a speech given at the Celebration of Law Day event on May 1. “And the women in this community should be wary and be prepared to not come in contact with him, ever.” O’Connell continued: “He is a danger to this community, and to the women in this community, and each one should make sure they take every precaution to protect themselves.”
Chris was acquitted of the assault charge in 2016, but was fined $500 on the charge of wanton endangerment.
After Chris filed his lawsuit against the Jefferson County Attorney, O’Connell responded with a scathing statement that was less than complimentary of Chris:
Chris Thieneman is a convicted domestic violence perpetrator. I am not intimidated by this classic domestic violence bullying tactic, and I wear this lawsuit as a badge of honor for the thousands of domestic violence victims that our office helps every year.
Getting back to Chris’ announcement about running for Louisville Mayor, he told Insider Louisville in a statement that he “made a promise to the victims of the Youth Explorer program back in the spring, and I’m honoring that promise to them.”
Am I the only one hoping that David will have a major role in Chris’ campaign and that we will see it all on next season of 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? Heck, maybe fellow Louisville resident (and Before the 90 Days star) Paul Staehle could help out too! They all three appear to be pretty close friends after all.
Oh, and I can’t wait to see the inevitable smear campaign commercials by incumbent Mayor Greg Fischer featuring the ultra-cringe-worthy 90 Day Fiance scene in which Chris suggests Annie give him Thai massages in exchange for giving her a place to stay in the US. (Chris and his wife Nikki later explained that the whole scene was set up by producers, but explanations don’t matter too much when it comes to political campaign commercials.)
UPDATE – Chris has just announced that he is financing a documentary on the scandal and the roles of those parties mentioned above. From Chris on Facebook:
I’m financing a Dateline type of documentary on the corruption and abuse of power that Mayor Fischer Chief Steve Conrad and Sexual predator protector county attorney mike OConnell did to me. They have done it to others like former major jimmy Harper who is the whistle blower on corruption within the LMPD. These three did everything they could to keep us in the dark on this Thank you Jimmy for shinkng the light.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
