Criminal trespasser sentenced to 18-month conditional discharge (2024)

DECATUR — Jonathan W. Hovey, who told police he was angling for a job at the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center by stalking one of its instructors, has been sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge.

Hovey, 52, had shown up at the MCLETC facility south of Decatur on the afternoon of May 16, 2023, and sought out Ed Culp. He’s the director of training and is also a Decatur City Councilman.

A sworn affidavit said Hovey later told Decatur Police Department officers that he had been looking for employment at MCLETC but his meeting with Culp "did not go well." Culp later told the cops he had realized Hovey was involved at the time in unrelated criminal investigations and had quickly shown him the door.

Hovey, however, was not easily dissuaded. He told police he figured out where Culp lived by scanning social media sites and, around 4:30 p.m. the same day, had suddenly appeared at Culp’s Decatur home and had driven down his driveway until confronted by Culp.

Culp later told his wife what had happened and got another surprise: “(Culp) advised (she) turned pale and told him that she had received a phone call from a Jonathan Hovey earlier in the day,” said Officer Clayton Zilz, who signed the affidavit.

Zilz said Hovey told the police he wanted to demonstrate to Culp that he was a good detective. “Jonathan advised he went to Culp’s house to prove that he was ‘good at finding people,’” the officer said. “Jonathan acknowledged this was a very bad decision.”

Hovey was arrested and a search of the Mercedes sport utility vehicle he was driving turned up one live 9mm bullet and a live 12-gauge shotgun shell, both of which the defendant claimed he had found.

Hovey was sentenced in Macon County Circuit Court on April 25 in a deal negotiated by defense attorney Mark Morthland that saw him plead guilty to a newly added charge of criminal trespass. Judge Rodney Forbes then agreed to dismiss the original charge of stalking and causing a victim distress. The judge also dismissed two further charges alleging possession of ammunition without a valid FOID card.

In addition to the conditional discharge, Forbes ordered Hovey to undergo a “psychiatric evaluation and comply with any recommendations.”

The defendant was further sentenced to 60 days in the Macon County Jail, but that was canceled out with credit for 60 days spent in custody before he was released on bond on July 13.

Another condition ordered by the judge warns Hovey to stay away from Ed Culp and to have no contact with him or his family.

Prior to these charges, Hovey previously taught first grade in the McLean County Unit 5 school district until he was arrested by Normal police in August 2019 and accused of sexually assaulting two students. The state schools superintendent suspended his teaching license after he was charged.

Hovey pleaded not guilty to those six charges — two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse — before they were dismissed in September 2020.

He was then charged in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2021 with rape and sexual battery by an authority figure, which he initially pleaded not guilty to.

The rape charge was amended to assault, and he pleaded guilty in March to that misdemeanor offense. The sexual battery charge was dismissed, according to the Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office.

He was sentenced to one year of probation; ordered to undergo anger management treatment, not possess weapons and stay away from the victim and their family; and fined $1,381.