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Aspiring Country Artist Strapped With Ankle Monitor, Claims Covid Prevented Turning Himself In After Breaking Bond To Attend CMA Awards
The plot thickens for an aspiring country artist that's finding himself in even more legal trouble after taking a "work trip" last month.
Austin Tanner is an aspiring country artist who released his debut single, "All We Need", in March of this year and appears to have more music in the works, but his career is hitting a speed bump of sorts due to some problems he's facing in his day job.
When not playing music, Tanner is the President of ATA Loss Consulting in Orange Beach, Alabama. Earlier this year, Lagniappe reported he was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree insurance fraud, theft of property, and attempted theft. Prosecutors accuse him of consistently overcharging during disputed property loss claims, meaning both law firms and clients suffered great financial losses. He was released on a $20,000 bond and was scheduled to appear before a judge back on November 21st, but that never happened for a very interesting reason.
You can read all of the details in this piece, but essentially that deposition was pushed at the last minute and no one knew why until Tanner began putting some photos up on his social media accounts. Tanner had attended the CMA Awards, which took place on November 21st (the same day he was supposed to have a deposition). The award show took place in Nashville and therein lies the problem.
Per the conditions of his bond release, Tanner was not allowed to leave the state of Alabama without prior approval from the judge, a condition which he would have been well aware of because he had been granted permission to go to Florida earlier in the year. After seeing the photos, the court issues a warrant for his arrest.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCpi78Gy9P8/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=b16b027b-28bb-4f99-bfcf-c5eae82d099b
Here's where the new information comes into play.
If Tanner had immediately turned himself in when the warrant was issued, he would have been in jail for around 8 days (the judge scheduled a hearing at the time of the warrant for December 4th). But Tanner didn't turn himself in and the reason he gave for why is downright hilarious.
Lagniappe reports that when asked by the judge why he hadn't been in custody, he responded:
"I had COVID. I went to the doctor on Sunday (Dec. 24) and I took an at-home test."
He's pulling out a Covid excuse?! I though the statute of limitations ran out on those years ago...
The judge went on to ask his lawyer, Frederick Helmsing Jr., if he had advised his client not to turn himself in to avoid the jail time, which he denied and said that he was not under the impression that Tanner actually had to return to custody, despite an active warrant being issued for his arrest. I'm no lawyer but I'm pretty sure a warrant means the police want to see you... immediately if not sooner.
Eventually, the judge ordered Tanner to wear an ankle monitor and said he was not allowed to leave his home except for work, church, or to see his lawyer, which Tanner objected to, saying he owns a law firm (what doesn't this guy do?) and his wife owns a travel agency, meaning he has to leave the state to conduct business. The judge was unwilling to bend though, saying that someone else would have to run his law firm and noting that he owned the business despite not being an attorney, which is illegal in the state of Alabama. The firm is located in DC, which is one of only two districts that allow a non-attorney to own a firm, which is totally not sketchy at all...
They were able to reach an agreement that Tanner would be able to leave the state to conduct business if he is given permission by the judge, which was originally off the table but argued back into play by his attorney.
Another oddity of the case is Tanner's insistence that he was invited by the CMA's to attend. He stated this in court while arguing for his ability to travel out of state for business:
"I’m also in the music industry. I would not have left the state if I knew I wasn’t allowed to. The CMAs was work. I was invited by the CMAs to come. It was a big deal for me."
But according to reporting by People, the CMA's denied sending him an invite, leaving us to wonder if he's flat out lying or was invited by some other entity. I've reached out to Cinq Music Group (who his debut single was exclusively licensed to) to find out if it was through them he received an invite but so far haven't received a comment.
Time will tell if Tanner will find himself behind bars for his alleged fraud crimes (which he has denied). Each of the crimes he's been charged with carry a standard sentence of 1 to 10 or 2 to 20 years, meaning he could be spending a significant chunk of the rest of his life in prison if found guilty and charged the maximum, which is unlikely but possible.
We'll be sure to keep you updated because I am completely enthralled with this story. An aspiring country singer/insurance company president/law firm owner who now has to wear an ankle monitor because he went to the CMA Awards and blasted pictures to the public on all of his social media? It's true when they say reality is stranger than fiction...
Here's his debut single if you're interested in listening...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvcFaERbQSM
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