The longtime girlfriend of Hixson plumber Ray Rzeplinski on Thursday told a Criminal Court jury it has been "five years of torment and hell" since a SWAT takedown at their house on Crabtree Road on Aug. 16, 2019.
Jackie Cordell said they began that day going to the Sheriff's Office to meet with detective Jason Maucere about concerns Rzeplinski had that somebody was embezzling funds from his business. She said he had stayed up almost all night gathering up documents to show the detective.
But she said when they arrived some 10 minutes late they were told the detective would not be meeting with them. She said Rzeplinski was especially upset now. "He had gathered up all these papers for basically nothing."
In the meantime, the Sheriff's Office had gotten a call from Rzeplinski's son saying he was so stressed he had talked of suicide. The Sheriff personnel were planning to go to the Rzeplinski home, where they had been told multiple guns were stored. Deputy Maucere had also learned that Rzeplinski had a felony conviction from when he was 19 and living in Bradley County.
Ms. Cordell said they were in their garage with the door open when an officer came up. She said they ordered him off the property. She said at that time both were wearing their handguns in their holsters.
She said both were gun collectors and had made multiple gun purchases over the years, with accompanying background checks.
Ms. Cordell said they then got a call and were told to come out of the house. She said they both put their guns down and began to walk down the driveway.
She said, "There were 30 SWAT Team members with their guns pointed at Ray. We're unarmed."
Ms. Cordell said Rzeplinski put his hands up and kept them up. She said he got down on his knees at their orders. Then she said, "They began beating him, hitting him and kicking him."
She said she was placed in handcuffs for about 30 minutes and a SWAT member shouted at her to give the code to two gun safes inside.
Rzeplinski, 48, also testified with his attorney, Ben McGowan, going over in detail his Bradley County conviction. The defendant, who said he was extremely nervous, at one time said he was clear that he had pleaded guilty to a felony. Another time he said, "I thought I was acting lawfully" when he bought numerous weapons despite the burglary conviction.
He said the Bradley County case involved him driving three other youths to get cigarettes. He said the other three, finding the store closed, broke out the front door window and took cigarettes and candy. He said he drove back by and picked them up. They were arrested a couple of days later.
He said at sentencing he got less time than the others because he agreed to be wired during a drug buy on three separate occasions. He got a three-year sentence, but received probation with 30 days to serve. He said it turned out to be 38 days when he did not report for probation. He said he paid all the restitution.
Of the takedown, he said, "We got a call that they were either coming in or we were coming out." He said he called 911 to announce that he was unarmed as he started out of the garage.
He said in the encounter with law enforcement he received six fractured ribs, lacerations to his head that caused significant bleeding, and other bruises and abrasions all over his body.
Law enforcement testified that Rzeplinski would not follow orders and was remaining scrunched up. They said they could not be sure at first if he had a gun because his shirt was partially covering his holster.
Rzeplinski said he bought guns because he felt they were a good investment, they were for protection, and at one time he hunted.
His son, Curtis Rzeplinski, said he was in Cleveland, Tn., when he got a call from his dad who was talking about suicide and was "extremely stressed out."
He said he was at his father's house when a deputy showed up just after a burglar alarm went off. He said his father told the deputy to get off his property. He said his father then left the house with a shotgun and a handgun. He said he tried to follow his father, but could not keep up.
The son said he called his mother about the situation. He said at the time she was married to a sheriff's deputy.
Rzeplinski is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, possession of a prohibited weapon, and possession of a firearm with a conviction of a prior violent felony. Judge Amanda Dunn, at the close of the state's proof, ruled out the reckless endangerment.