Doomed: Why Megan Rondini Never Had A Chance Inside the Criminal Justice System
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on July 16, 2017
Innisfree Irish Pub on University is a favorite hangout of Terry Jackson "Sweet T' Bunn, Jr. He is the man 20-year old Megan Rondini accused of raping her on the night of July 1, 2015. Innisfree is one of Sweet T's hunting grounds for young women. By all accounts, Sweet T is a sexual predator.
After his divorce on December 5, 2011, Sweet T developed a reputation around Tuscaloosa for picking up young women in bars and allegedly raping them. Several of these sexual encounters resulted in sexual assault reports to local law enforcement agencies. None resulted in his arrest. Here is why.
A Lifestyle Based on Privilege, Wealth, and Power
Sweet T, who is 36 years old, enjoys a lifestyle based on privilege, wealth, and power. He is a local playboy who is accountable to no one. His family has bought the allegiance and support of everyone who is "for sale".
Sweet T's father, Terry Bunn, Sr., and his brother, Sonny T. Bunn, Jr., own and operate ST Bunn Construction Company, Inc. The company thrives off government paving contracts.
The Bunn family's long, deep and impressive donor relationship with The University of Alabama has given the Bunn brothers an ironclad grip on the institution's board of trustees and its president. The family's financial support of the University's Athletics Department and its legacy football program cements this bond.
The Bunns also control a host of politicians in Tuscaloosa and Montgomery. They learned early on that many politicians in Alabama could be "bought" or "rented" on an "as needed" basis. Former Governor Robert Bentley was one of their showcase political trophies. After Bentley won a long-shot election as governor in 2010, the Bunns took their political game to a new and expanded level.
As we reported in prior articles, the Bunns have contributed money to virtually every state and local political office and law enforcement organization that matters in Alabama. Their cash contributions were usually run through political action committees chaired by Bentley's 2010 and 2014 campaign finance chief Mike Echols. Echols is the former husband of Kathy Echols, the UA counselor who withdrew from providing sexual abuse counseling to Megan after the alleged rape had occurred because she knew Sweet T and the Bunn family.
The Bunn family's campaign contributions have created what one Tuscaloosa County commissioner characterized as a "monopoly" in the paving business for ST Bunn Construction Company. These political contributions really paid off in 2011 after a devastating and deadly tornado tore through Tuscaloosa. ST Bunn Construction Company teamed up with the city of Tuscaloosa to provide an estimated $100 to $200 million in daily cleanup services under the auspices of Phillips and Jordan, Inc., the specialty contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The no-bid contract also allowed ST Bunn Construction Company, operating under the name BRP, LLC, to hire as many as 50 subcontractors.
Controlling Law Enforcement Agencies
In addition to buying influence within the law enforcement community through laundered campaign contributions to Sheriff Ron Abernathy and Tuscaloosa district attorneys Lyn Head and Hays Webb, ST Bunn Construction Company works its law enforcement network through the company's safety officer, Brad Hubbard. He is a reserve Alabama State Trooper. He attended the Trooper Academy and has a badge, gun and vest.
For a while, Hubbard was also a reserve deputy with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office. This appointment was made while Billy Sharp was serving as Sheriff on a temporary basis. It was subsequently rescinded because it created an obvious conflict of interest.
Hubbard drives an unmarked SUV with hidden blue lights. This vehicle is owned and operated by ST Bunn Construction Company, not the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency ("ALEA"). Someone in law enforcement at the state level has approved ST Bunn to own and operate what is considered an emergency response vehicle.
Hubbard's primary job is to network within the law enforcement throughout the entire state, but primarily Tuscaloosa County. On multiple occasions, Hubbard has shown up where law enforcement agents were eating and secretly paid for everybody's food before the agents had a chance to stop him. At one time, Hubbard was providing security for Governor Bentley at his church in Tuscaloosa, along with Billy Sharp, the man who appointed him as a reserve deputy sheriff.
Also, Hubbard works security during Alabama home football games and is paid by the ALEA even though he is not a sworn, full-time state trooper; he is a reserve trooper.
ST Bunn appears to have bought its place inside of state and local law enforcement agencies in the form of Brad Hubbard. The Bunn family's alliance with Sheriff Abernathy, ALEA, district attorneys Head and Webb, and The University of Alabama has made Sweet T a "modern-day untouchable."
Megan Rondini never had a chance of securing criminal justice after her alleged rape by Sweet T. The Bunn family is wired inside the state's law enforcement community, from top to bottom. Their money has bought the University's silence in Megan's rape case. As a result, Megan was doomed from the start. Her rape complaint against Sweet T was going nowhere beyond an end-of-the-road "special inquiry" file in Sheriff Abernathy's Office.
As a result of her ordeal with Sweet T, Megan is now dead. He is free and roaming the bar scene again.
