Hartselle police: Chiropractor ingested lead to allay suspicion
By Eric Fleischauer
For the Enquirer
A local chiropractor intentionally ingested lead to hide the fact that he had poisoned his wife with the substance, a Hartselle investigator said in a recent court filing.
Brian Thomas Mann, 34, a Hartselle resident with a chiropractic business in Decatur, was arrested Sept. 2 after being indicted for the attempted murder of his wife. According to a pending divorce case filed by his wife, Mann intentionally poisoned her with lead particles, leading to her hospitalization from Jan. 18, 2022, to March 3, 2022.
Mann has denied the divorce allegations and pleaded not guilty in the criminal case. He is allowed under a $500,000 bond to work on weekdays with restrictions on his locations, but he must report back to Morgan County Jail on weekends.
Hartselle police Lt. Alan McDearmond last year obtained a search warrant for Mann’s Facebook and phone records and last week, after he obtained the records he sought, his affidavit explaining why he had probable cause for the search warrant was disclosed in court filings.
In the affidavit, McDearmond said the Morgan County Department of Human Resources contacted him Jan. 26, 2022, about the “possible intentional poisoning” of Mann’s wife, who at the time was unresponsive in UAB Hospital. In attempting to find the source of the lead, McDearmond wrote, investigators went to Mann’s house and asked him how his wife could have ingested so much lead. Mann had no answers and “led investigators through the house and assisted in looking for something that might have been in the home.”
On Jan. 28, 2022, McDearmond said, he met with Alabama Department of Public Health inspectors at the Coleman Street Northwest house and they collected samples in an unsuccessful effort to find the lead source. Mann at that time said his children had tested negative for lead poisoning, but that he had not been tested, according to the affidavit. McDearmond said Mann had no symptoms of lead poisoning when they met and that witnesses confirmed he had no prior symptoms.
At McDearmond’s suggestion, Mann then reported to Decatur Morgan Hospital to be tested for lead, according to the affidavit, and reported to the nurse practitioner there that he was suffering from symptoms.
“The nurse practitioner said Brian told her he did an X-ray on himself and observed a substance in his gut, which he believed to be lead. The nurse practitioner advised Brian that she needed to repeat the X-ray,” according to the affidavit. “Brian asked why another X-ray was needed and she explained the need to determine if it was chronic or acute ingestion. She said Brian became visibly nervous and she thought he may leave.”
The nurse practitioner reported to McDearmond that the X-ray she then took “showed a substance in his colon that didn’t appear to have been there for long.”
McDearmond said he later subpoenaed Mann’s medical records and “believes the medical records indicate Brian intentionally ingested lead to provide the impression he was also being poisoned.”
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Divorce case
The issues in the criminal case against Mann are also prominent in the divorce case in which his wife alleges he intentionally caused her “to unwittingly ingest particles of lead.”
Through her lawyer, Jerry Knight, Mann’s wife filed a discovery document asking Mann to admit 32 separate facts. Last week Mann’s lawyer, Britt Cauthen, asserted his client’s Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in declining to answer 26 of the requests for admission.
Knight responded by asking the court to deem each of the unanswered requests to be declared as facts for the purpose of the divorce case, arguing that the Fifth Amendment was an improper response and that many of the requests had been admitted previously.
According to Knight, Mann had effectively admitted that he was the beneficiary of $1.3 million of life insurance on his wife, whereas his wife was the beneficiary of only $52,000 of life insurance on Mann. In supporting his claim that these facts had been admitted, Knight’s motion said Mann’s previous lawyer had turned over documentation of the life insurance policies, thereby waiving any Fifth Amendment privilege.
Mann denied requests for an admission that his wife ingested vitamins or food supplements in capsules provided to her by Mann for several months prior to her hospitalization.
Mann’s wife also filed a motion earlier this year seeking to end Mann’s visitation rights with their children. The motion argued that Mann’s “birth mother is thought to reside in South Korea where (Mann) was born” and that the wife “is fearful (Mann) might flee to South Korea or elsewhere if he continues to be allowed time out of jail.” A hearing on the motion is scheduled for April 20.
After Mann’s arrest Sept. 2 on the attempted murder charge, he was released on $500,000 bond Sept. 7 with conditions that included wearing an ankle monitor and surrendering his passport within 24 hours of his release. Mann failed to turn in his passport and failed to alert Community Corrections or the court that he could not find it, leading Circuit Judge Charles Elliott to revoke his bond Sept. 14.
On Jan. 11, Elliott — who is the judge in both the criminal and divorce cases — allowed Mann to be released again on $500,000 bond with conditions that include returning to jail every weekend from 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday. On weekdays, he is not permitted to leave his house after 6 p.m. or before 8 a.m., compliance with which is ensured through a GPS ankle monitor.
Elliott said he was granting Mann’s release because his continued incarceration prevented the chiropractor from fulfilling alimony and child support obligations in the divorce case. “I’m having to balance assuring your presence in court, assuring the safety of any potential victim or witness in the case, but also allow for your wife and children to be able to survive and have food to eat and have shelter,” Elliott said at the time.
Mann’s criminal trial is scheduled for Aug. 14.
