Police: Toogood's prints don't match fugitive's
FBI reports no warrants for husband of mom in alleged beating
By BRYON COPPENS
Tribune Staff Writer
MISHAWAKA -- A set of fingerprints taken from Johnny Toogood at the Mishawaka police station Tuesday did not match those of a man wanted in Tennessee and Virginia.
Mishawaka police had obtained a search warrant through the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office to get Toogood's fingerprints and photograph after receiving information that he was possibly wanted in other states on forgery, theft and flight charges.
The reports they received followed national media coverage of his wife, Madelyne Toogood, and the surveillance videotape taken Sept. 13 in which Madelyne appears to repeatedly strike the Toogoods' 4-year-old daughter, Martha.
Investigative Division Chief Mike Samp said Johnny Toogood agreed to come to the police station Tuesday when asked and remained there for several hours as investigators examined his prints and ran them through state and federal databases.
Fingerprint experts from both the Mishawaka and South Bend police departments compared his prints with those of a man police were looking for in Tennessee and Virginia and concluded they did not match, Samp said.
Police also faxed a copy of Toogood's prints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C.
Samp said the FBI determined that the prints belonged to Johnny Toogood, also known as John Lark, and there were no outstanding warrants on file for him.
At that point, Toogood was released, Samp said.
Detective Matt Austin of the Bristol Police Department, which is located on the border of Tennessee and Virginia, said Thursday afternoon that he has been contacted by the Mishawaka Police Department about their findings.
Earlier in the week, Austin said he was fairly certain Toogood was the same man wanted in Tennessee and Virginia under the names John A. Gannon or John Gorman, but Austin said Thursday he had no reason to doubt the results of the fingerprint comparison conducted in Mishawaka.