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Tyrone Jabril Hardin found innocent of robbery,
victim of mistaken identity

by Lewis Loflin

On or around May 21, 2010 we all read/heard about the arrest of Tyrone Jabril Hardin. On the web to this day on www.knoxnews.com, www.wbir.com, www.wate.com, and on and on the story hangs on. The arrest is still listed on the FBI government website as well. They all have a near identical story as follows:

"The Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones of the Knox County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) announce the arrest of Tyrone Jabril Hardin on bank robbery charges related to the robbery of the Tennessee Credit Union on 05/14/2010.

At approximately 9:30 this morning, Tyrone Jabril Hardin, age 20, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was arrested, without incident, by members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force (SSTF)-consisting of personnel from the FBI, KPD, and KCSO-and the Knox County Major Crimes Unit. Hardin is facing federal charges for bank robbery. He is suspected of robbing the Tennessee Credit Union located at 10431 Kingston Pike in Knoxville on 05/14/2010. This matter was a joint investigation between the FBI SSTF and Knox County Major Crimes Unit.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law."

Fine and good except for one problem, Tyrone was innocent, a victim of mistaken identity. Within a week he had been cleared of the charges, yet nobody bothered to publish this fact, not even the government. Below is from official court documents:

The United States of America, by its counsel Kelly A. Norris, Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, pursuant to Rule 48 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, has filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice the complaint filed against he defendant in the above-styled action.

Accordingly, for good cause shown, it is hereby ORDERED that the complaint filed in he above-styled case is hereby DISMISSED without prejudice. 5-27-2010. Case 3:10-mj-01027.

After being contacted by Tyrone's mother and viewing the official documents, here is the real story that needs to be presented. To put it simply, Tyrone is innocent. This was determined within a week of his arrest, yet nobody in the press or the government chose to publish this information to the public. Thus the reputation of an innocent young black man is still being tarnished.

This sad story began for 19-year-old Tyrone when his probation officer, named Christy, watched a news report on Channel WBIR in Knoxville either at 6 PM or 11 PM. She thought she recognized Tyrone as being the perpetrator so she contacted the police. He was on probation for a minor marijuana possession charge.

She informed the police or FBI that they could pick up Tyrone when he showed up for his scheduled meeting with her. She also gave them his home address, which I understand was searched and no $20,000 that was stolen from the credit union was ever found.

Tyrone had no idea what was going on. So when he shows of his to his parole hearing officer Christy he thought she was joking when asked where was the $20,000? She even asked him when he was going to take her out to dinner. According to his mother he was sort of a jokester anyway and said he would take his parole officer out to a big dinner. His next dinner would be at jail as the police were waiting for him.

As best I can find out Tyrone has had these minor problems like many young men, but never nothing of violent type. In addition he had been identified by one or two victims of the robbery, which only added to his problems. Unfortunately for many white people it's easy to blame every young black man for the discretions of the few and they all look alike anyway. To the best of my knowledge it was mainly his hair style that got him arrested. the actual perpetrator has not been found to this day.

This website also posted a copy of the official government release. It took over two years before the truth came out and I am presenting this truth here and pronouncing in no uncertain words that Tyrone Hardin is innocent of all charges. I also regret that this information had not been passed to me sooner. For that reason and because nobody else will do it I will apologize for all of those who are still smearing Tyrone, an innocent man.

To this day the real perpetrator has never been arrested.

Below is a reprint of much of the letter his mother sent to me:

Tyrone's CAPP's PO had told the FBI they would be able to catch him and pick him up when he reports to her office. She also gave them the home address, in which, the house was searched to try to find the ($20,000) dollars that was supposing taken from the credit union.

My son Tyrone, who is still a kid in heart, was questioned by his PO (Christy) upon arriving for his regular schedule meeting with her about the incident, she asked what did he get or how much money, something to that effect and unfortunately, Tyrone, being the jokester he can sometimes be, stated to his PO that he got about ($20,000) and was going to treat her to lunch or dinner.

Tyrone not knowing that his PO had reported to the FBI stating that she has identified him as the robber, along with one or two victims of the incident from the robbery who looked at his mug shot, was arrested on site for the incident. Without any fight and total cooperation, Tyrone went into incarceration until proven innocent of this crime.

I knew without a doubt that my son Tyrone had not committed such a crime as this. Yes, sometimes parents are shocked of things that their children get into, but this was one that I knew without an doubt, he would not commit. Because my son was characterized to match up with the attributes and built of the individual who committed the crime such as (long dreadlocks (his hair), stockiness, black male, etc), in which he seemed to fit the description, but was not the person who committed the crime. Mistaken identity because of race, culture and looks.

Tyrone was proven not guilty by witness who had saw or was with him that day and especially cell phone records that verified his location at the time of the crime scene taken place. On the day and time of incident taking place, I personally contacted and spoke with my son, who was on his way to Alcoa High School graduation in Manville Tennessee with some friends. We were going to get together and he let me know he was on his way to the graduation instead. No actual evidence in connection was found at the residence, no money, no nothing. My son, was not even located in the area of the incident taking place, and the individual that committed the crime did not have tattoos on his arms as my son did.

So the point of this whole situation for us is that we want to clarify or clear his name to this unfortunate incident. First of all, a person is innocent until proven guilty. Until proven guilty a person's name should not be given until found guilty or until evidence has presented to proven that the suspect in question is the actual person who has committed this awful crime. Secondly, a following up of what happen in this case should be stated by the media that the suspect at hand has been cleared of the charges, found not guilty and innocent. Thirdly that whoever the actual individual who commit the crime is still at large.

So many fall victim to the media not following up on cases like this and when the individual seeks employment and the employer see's this information out here on the internet and NO clarification or correction of the person being cleared of crime, it can cause necessary hardship for the not guilty individual presenting himself as a decent and respectable person.

We never seen or heard whether the actual individual that committed the crime was every found, picked-up or arrested. The information about the incident was just left out there to the public as if my son (Tyrone Jabril Hardin) was the actual person who committed the crime. Nothing wrote or said that Tyrone Jabril Hardin was proven innocent and charges dropped and dismissed against him.

If you can assist us in clarifying and stating the truth how justice for the innocent still prevails in our justice system that Tyrone Jabril Hardin was cleared of this crime, we will be most grateful and appreciative of your time and integrity in promoting the truth for all.

J. Hardin, Mother of Tyrone Jabril Hardin



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