Now cleared of charges, Terpko speaks out  

BY JAMES RADA JR.
Thurmont News Editor

THURMONT, Md. – When a friend convinced 13-year-old Brandon Terpko to play mailbox baseball on June 14, he said, “If we don’t get caught, this will be a summer you won’t forget.”

Well, it has been a summer Brandon won’t forget. Just not in the way he had imagined. Brandon got caught and because of what he did, he saw his father arrested.

“Half of me felt like I wasn’t going to get caught,” Brandon said. “Half knew what I was doing was wrong. When I started doing it, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew I should stop, but I didn’t.”

A parent’s anger

Police arrested Brandon near his home around 3 a.m. Besides smashing mailboxes around the area with two friends, Brandon had also taken his father’s SUV without permission, and without a license.

Brandon’s father, Thurmont Commissioner Ron Terpko, was out delivering newspapers as part of his second job and Brandon’s mother, Tina Terpko, was at her job in Montgomery County.

According to Terpko, Deputy John McQuain called him on his cell phone himself and said, “I have Brandon. He’s been out in your Ford smashing mailboxes.”

Terpko said his reply was, “No! That’s not right. My Brandon’s home asleep.”

The deputy said there was no mistake and that Terpko needed to get home. According to Terpko, he tried explaining that he was 20 minutes away when the deputy ordered him, “You need to get home now!”

By the time Terpko arrived home, Brandon was handcuffed and leaning with his back against a police car a house away from his home.

“I could tell he was mad just by the look on his face,” Brandon said.

Terpko approached his son and asked, “What did you do?”

Brandon admits he rolled his eyes, which only angered Terpko more. He slapped his son. A surprised Brandon cried and ran off.

At the time of the slap, Terpko says witnesses would have testified Thurmont Police Officer Mark Debord was a few feet away from Terpko, McQuain was across the street in his car writing on a clipboard and Thurmont Police Officer Christopher McLoughlin was even further away than McQuain.

Once Brandon was caught and calmed down, McQuain went with Terpko to get his driver’s license. Terpko then sat down on the curb to wait for the paperwork to be finished.

While he was waiting, McLoughlin approached McQuain and told him that Terpko had punched his son. Terpko said McQuain turned and said, “I’m arresting you for assault.” Terpko was charged with child abuse and second-degree assault.

Punched or slapped?

So began 42 days of national and international publicity that identified Terpko as someone who was arrested for punching his son, although Debord’s report and other witnesses said it was a slap. Tina Terpko said her husband isn’t even the disciplinarian in the family.

“I’m surprised that given two different statements that this went on for 42 days,” Ron Terpko said. “Didn’t they realize something was not right?”

The Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office encouraged Terpko to take a plea bargain, but he refused, believing he was in the right.

“This was about parental rights,” Terpko said. “My child took a vehicle and smashed mailboxes and I was arrested for slapping him.”

The state’s attorney’s office dropped the child abuse charge on June 28 and the second-degree assault on July 24.

“The fact is this would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and the two statements almost automatically guarantee reasonable doubt,” said State’s Attorney Scott Rolle.

In addition, Rolle noted that the law allows for a parent to use corporal punishment. The punishment did not injure Brandon, as shown in photos taken at the scene, and given the circumstances, the slap could perhaps be deemed a reasonable reaction to what Brandon had done.

The investigation report also showed McLoughlin uncertain. In the report, he said Terpko struck Brandon with what “appeared to be a closed fist.” McLoughlin also told investigators Debord had a better view.

Terpko also pointed out that no witnesses on the scene were questioned. They were not mentioned in the police reports and their names were not taken at the scene.

A broken system

Terpko says the handling of the case concerns him.

“Thank God, I had the opportunity to fight this and the media was looking into all aspects of it,” Terpko said. “What happens if you don’t have that kind of attention on your case?”

Calling the system “broken,” Terpko said he would like to see both the Thurmont Police and sheriff’s office conduct investigations with an independent investigator over what went wrong with the handling of his case.

“Five minutes of discussion between the officers could have avoided all this,” Terpko said.

As for Brandon, when he hasn’t been in the house grounded for the summer, he’s been repairing mailboxes he damaged and apologizing to the owners.

Terpko said Brandon has contacted 11 of the mailbox owners and any owners he’s missed should contact the Terpkos.