A veteran Evansville police officer who’s already on paid administrative leave for a separate incident is now under the microscope again, accused of sending what some might consider threatening text messages. The case, which originated in Posey County, is now in the hands of a Warrick County deputy prosecutor who was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case.

Officer Marcus Craig, a 15 year veteran of the force, has been on paid administrative leave since November. Imposed by Chief Billy Bolin, the discipline against Officer Craig stemmed from his alleged involvement in the controversial arrest of a man in late October.

According to an incident report obtained by Eyewitness News, on January 1st, Craig called Posey County dispatch to attempt to locate his 2008 Jeep Liberty from a house on Midway Manor Drive in Mt. Vernon. The responding deputy said Craig was very upset because his 20-year-old daughter was in the hospital with alcohol poisoning after becoming unresponsive at a New Year’s Eve party the night before, according to the incident report.

Eyewitness News has elected not to identify Craig’s daughter.

Craig stated that he believed someone at the party took his daughter’s vehicle and hit it to prevent any problems with him, the report stated. Additionally, Craig told the responding deputy that he believed that his daughter’s boyfriend and his daughter’s cousin — Craig’s nephew — were responsible for his daughter’s high levels of intoxication.

Upon further investigation, the deputy made contact with the girl’s boyfriend, who informed the deputy that the girl’s SUV had been on his driveway the entire night, according to the report. The boyfriend told the deputy that when he arrived home around 9 o’clock on New Year’s Eve, Craig’s daughter was already consuming alcoholic beverages with her cousin, the report stated. The girl’s cousin is also her boyfriend’s roommate.

The deputy also determined that it appeared that no one other than Craig’s daughter had recently driven the vehicle because the driver’s seat was pushed all the way up to the steering wheel, according to the report. Craig’s daughter is five feet tall.

When speaking with the boyfriend and cousin of Craig’s daughter, the two requested the deputy to look at a series of text messages reportedly sent by Craig, the report states. The deputy noted that the text messages appeared to threaten bodily harm against the two men.

“One message from Marcus [Craig] said, ‘I’m kickking [sic] all ur (expletive),'” the deputy wrote in the report. “Another message read, ‘who’s her punk boyfriend he better hide he’s dead.”

The boyfriend and cousin informed the deputy that they were afraid that Craig would come to their home and do bodily harm to them, according to the report.

On January 20th, Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers petitioned the court for the appointment of a special prosecutor. Clowers tells Eyewitness News sought a special prosecutor because he wanted to avoid any perception or appearance that he would be biased. Clowers previously worked in Vanderburgh County and knew Craig through previous cases, he said.

James Trulock, a deputy prosecutor in Warrick County, was named the special prosecutor in the case, which remains under review, his office said. No charges have been filed at this time. Craig did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for the Evansville Police Department said the agency is not involved in any aspect of this case because the incident happened outside of its jurisdiction. Furthermore, a spokesman said the case has no bearing on Craig’s pending internal affairs case regarding the controversial arrest of a man in late October. Craig and the other three officers involved in the case will have a disciplinary hearing before the Merit Commission later this month.