Video: Brooks Houck’s brother tells him to leave police interview

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson Count Gazette/ WBRT Radido

Brooks Houck, right, on the phone with his brother during Brooks’ interview with Detective Jon Snow of the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

Monday, Oct. 19, 2015, 6 p.m. — Documents and video obtained by the Nelson County Gazette show Brooks Houck, boyfriend of Crystal Rogers, receiving a phone call from Bardstown Police Officer Nick Houck while Brooks was in an interview with Detective Jon Snow of the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.

In violation of a variety of police department standards and policies, Nick Houck told his brother he should quit talking to Snow and leave the interview.

Crystal Rogers has been missing since July 3, and Brooks Houck was the last person to see her alive.

In a letter dated Sept. 9, Police Chief Rick McCubbin listed the charges against Nick Houck, adding that “the intended resolution of these charges shall be termination of employment.”

The charges include violations of a variety of police department policies, as well as insubordination, improper or immoral conduct, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

Houck was fired from the Bardstown Police Department on Friday, Oct. 16.

In a video recording of Brooks Houck’s interview, he answers his ringing cellphone near the end of his two-hour interview with Snow.

When Nick Houck tells his brother he should leave the interview, Brooks Houck responds, “If you want me to leave … if you’re telling me to get up and leave, I’ll leave.”

At the end of the phone call, Houck tells Snow his brother was concerned he was getting beaten on by police during the lengthy interview.

“He knows more about this than I do,” Houck tells Snow.

Snow tells Houck that his interest is in finding Crystal, and if anything has happened to her, to gather evidence to help prosecute the person or persons responsible.

“If that turns out to be, my job is to prosecute you,” Snow tells Houck, adding that Houck is a person of interest because he was the last person to see Crystal alive, and there were gaps and inconsistencies in the timeline Houck provided to police.

ADDITIONAL CHARGES. According to the document outlining the charges against him, on July 9, Nick Houck refused to meet with detectives investigating Rogers’ disappearance. The next day, Houck refused to follow McCubbin’s order that he meet with investigators.

Houck later agreed to meet with Kentucky State Police detectives but initially refused to consent to a polygraph test. He later agreed to a polygraph test and did so on July 24. The polygraph examiner contacted McCubbin and “stated his grave concerns with the results.”

In his letter outlining the charges against Houck, McCubbin said he was “more than disturbed by the conduct of this officer during the entire course of this investigation.

“I believe that Officer Houck’s lack of candor and demeanor and his unprofessional attitude have not only damaged his own reputation but that of the Bardstown Police Department, and has brought serious disrepute to the entire department and city.

“In my 27 years of law enforcement service this is one of the most egregious displays of conduct, demeanor and unprofessionalism that I have witnessed.”

Houck has 30 days from the date of his termination to appeal the mayor’s decision in Nelson Circuit Court.

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