Lawyer: Traditionalist Worker Party membership roll still exists, despite Matt Parrott鈥檚 vow to destroy database
In the churning hours after聽Traditionalist Worker Party chief Matthew Heimbach鈥檚 arrest amidst a sex scandal, organization benefactor and spokesman Matt Parrott promised to delete membership information about the group.
Now, his lawyer said on Tuesday, that didn鈥檛 happen.
James Kolenich of Cincinnati, who is representing TWP and others in a federal lawsuit stemming from the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, said in a motion that Parrott 鈥渉as not deleted or in any way destroyed鈥� any data potentially relevant to the lawsuit.
Parrott, in a sworn declaration filed with the motion, said he never destroyed the membership list, knowing it was potentially part of the lawsuit.
鈥淭here is no need to attempt to repopulate or recover any such records as none have been deleted or otherwise tampered with,鈥� Parrott said.
The status of the TWP membership rolls and other data came into question on March 13, after Heimbach was charged with hitting his wife and Parrott at the trailer park they shared in Paoli, Indiana, a bit more than an hour north of Louisville, Kentucky.
Heimbach, 26, was having an affair with Parrott鈥檚 wife. Parrott and his step-daughter from his first marriage discovered the fling in a sordid tale involving an audio recording, a box and an unexpected confrontation, prompting a fight that led to Heimbach鈥檚 arrest.
In the hours after the arrest, Parrott announced his resignation from TWP 鈥� 鈥淢att Parrott is out of the game. Y鈥檃ll have a nice life,鈥� he told the Southern Poverty Law Center 鈥� and posted on the alt-right social media site Gab that 鈥渁ll of the information systems鈥� for TWP 鈥渨ill be destroyed within a few hours鈥� to ensure the security of the information.
The posting prompted the plaintiffs in the Charlottesville lawsuit to quickly ask the judge to allow them to examine Parrott鈥檚 computers and, if necessary, reconstruct the membership rolls.
Heimbach, once considered to be the 鈥渘ext David Duke鈥� of the far-right, is charged with assault in Indiana. He has remained publicly quiet about the arrest.
At an initial appearance on Monday, Heimbach did not have an attorney and a judge rejected his request for a public defender. He is due back in court in Indiana for a pre-trial hearing there on May 30.
Heimbach鈥檚 legal woes also extend to the south side of the Ohio River.
Heimbach pleaded guilty in July 2017聽to disorderly conduct聽in the assault of聽a protester at a 2016 campaign event for Donald Trump in Louisville, Kentucky.
Heimbach was fined $145 and sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct, a lesser charge.聽District Court Judge Stephanie Pearce Burke suspended the jail time so long as Heimbach avoids being charged with another offense in the next two years.
A probation hearing for Heimbach is set in Kentucky on June 1.
A federal civil lawsuit is pending against Heimbach, President Donald Trump and others stemming from the incident. The case is pending before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
