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	Woman Accepts Her Blog's Role in Church Investigation By Jeff Brumley Times-Union April 25, 2009 http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-25/story/woman_accepts_her_blogs_role_in_church_investigation She now understands police interest amid First Baptist Church probe. Tiffany Thigpen Croft said she's satisfied with the explanation about why her blog was included in a 2008 investigation into the identity of an anonymous blogger critical of First Baptist Church. Still, the 36-year-old Southside resident said she wishes the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office hadn't used a subpoena to scour her blog, which tracks allegations of sexual misconduct against former Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church pastor Darrell Gilyard. From e-mails and phone calls with police this week, Croft said, she learned her blog came to detective Robert Hinson's attention because it had been listed as a link on FBCJaxWatchdog.blogspot. com, which was the true focus of the investigation. The Sheriff's Office also provided Croft a written statement this week declaring that her blog, TiffanyCroft.blogspot.com, had been cleared of all suspicion. "Once the blog ownership information was verified by the Internet provider and matched information on Ms. Croft's blog site, Detective Hinson determined that there was no investigative value in Ms. Croft's blog," according to the Sheriff's Office statement. Croft said she also was told by Hinson's supervisor, Lt. Michelle Cook, that police needed to confirm the blog wasn't an alias operated by Thomas Rich, the once-anonymous blogger uncovered and revealed by Hinson to First Baptist, where he was a member. Cook didn't return calls seeking comment. Contacted by phone, Hinson said he couldn't comment. So far, police haven't said why a third blog, one critical of a church in Memphis, also was investigated by Hinson. Even though Croft sent a letter to the Sheriff's Office on Monday expressing her satisfaction with Hinson's conduct, Sheriff's spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith said a complaint Croft filed with the Sheriff's Office this month has been forwarded to internal affairs. Croft also questioned the validity of the probe as a whole. The probe was launched Sept. 29 after the Rev. John Blount, First Baptist's administrative pastor, called Hinson to report "heightened vitriol" on Rich's blog, Blount told the Times-Union previously. Blount said he also relayed to Hinson that mail had been stolen from the home of pastor Mac Brunson and that a stalker had taken photographs of Brunson's wife in 2007. Blount said the church wanted to know if the incidents were related. But the police report used to open the investigation cites only an ongoing "Internet incident that has possible criminal overtones." Separate reports about the mail and photographs were never filed, Blount said, because they seemed isolated an unrelated at the time. The investigation was closed Nov. 13 after Hinson reported finding "no criminal activity" had been discovered, according to reports. Contact: jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4310
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