Philip Nolan, Jr.
Hill County – Wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots, a frantic man walked the rural road looking for his kids. He truly believed someone had spirited them away.
Philip Nolan, Jr., a 37-year-old man who is 5-3 and weighs in at about 140-50, strode along County Road 1321 with a shovel in his hands on Tuesday, May 15, at about 8 a.m.
He was in a total panic, according to his neighbor, Michael Shane Baxter, who lives just a few doors down from Nolan in the 700 block of CR 1321.
Nolan was convinced his kids were not on their way to school, that they were missing, and he demanded Baxter cruise the rural road in search of them, according to an affidavit written by Deputy David Gray.
Baxter told Gray and Sgt. Orban that he drove the road as far as the pavement and when he got back to his house, he found Nolan on his property, in the carport, where he demanded to look in the trunk of Baxter’s car for his children.
According to Baxter, he had not found Nolan’s kids, but he did find a strange black car up the road.
When Deputy Gray found Nolan at Baxter’s house, he noted that, “He was irrational, agitated, and paranoid. I have seen other individuals exhibit similar behavior when under the influence of methamphetamine.”
Gray concluded, “He was detrmined to be a danger to himself and others and was arrested for Public Intoxication. He admitted to Sgt. Orban that he had taken meth two days earlier.”
An affidavit written by Deputy Kalyn Pavlas Caldara observed that Nolan had called earlier to report his kids were missing; while enroute, they received word he was at his neighbor’s house accusing him of hiding them.
When she and Deputy Castro arrived, they listened while Nolan “started telling me how he heard knocking on Baxter’s vehicle and wanted the trunk opened because his kids were in there.”
Baxter opened the trunk; Nolan wouldn’t believe the kids weren’t in there until Baxter took items out to show him there were no kids there. He also refused to believe the officers when they told him Dispatch had confirmed through Hillsboro Elementary and Intermediate schools that his kids were safe and in attendance.
Baxter demanded the cops arrest Nolan for trespassing. They booked him into the Hill County Jail for that offense and public intoxication. The magistrate set his bond at $1,000.
Two days later, on Thursday, May 17 around 9 a.m., corrections staff called for backup to put Nolan in a restraint chair “for his safety” after “he had injured himself by repeatedly striking his forehead against the metal drain in the floor of a holding cell,” according to a statement written by Officer Scott Robinson.
“Inmate Nolan struck his head against the drain with enough force that it broke the skin on his forehead, resulting in his face being covered in blood.”
A nurse tended his wound where he was strapped into the restraint chair, and “Nolan continued to act in a manner consistent with being under the influence of narcotics, specifically methamphetamine,” the officer wrote. “He appeared to be oblivious of his self inflicted injury, was speaking irrationaly and did not appear to be aware of his surroundings.”
On Sunday, May 20, Nolan obtained his freedom on bond, and his parents took him to Hillcrest Hospital in Waco, where he received treatment for his injuries. The hospital released him on Monday, May 21.
Delinda Nolan Cargill said she thought was going to die
NONE OF THE THESE EVENTS HAPPENED IN A VACUUM.
According to investigators, Nolan spent the weekend alone at home while his wife and kids were out of town. Seeking drugs to ease his back pain, he went to Gholson in McLennan County and obtained a marijuana joint when he couldn’t find pain medication.
Insiders believe the cigarette may have been laced with a strong narcotic.
His family lives in the area, and they have been facing a lot of trauma for the past year.
The end to this family drama played out in a Waco District Court on Thursday, May 24, when Nolan’s sister Delinda addressed her husband Donald Cargill in a victim impact statement following his guilty plea for multiple felonies.
According to published reports, she said, “You robbed everything from my life.”
He rode the docket for a year and intended to go to trial in June, but opted for a guilty plea in return for a 50-year sentence instead of a possible life term had a jury convicted him for the multiple offenses for which the Grand Jury returned an indictment.
Donald Cargill