A grand jury has indicted Elkhart County Clerk Christopher Anderson and his chief deputy on felony official misconduct charges. They’re charged with routinely paying an employee for hours they didn’t work.
The case stems from an Indiana State Board of Accounts report finding that Anderson condoned a long-standing practice of paying supervisors for 80 hours of work bi-weekly even though they only work 72. The state agency and Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department had received complaints about the practice in September.
Rather than consider criminal charges herself, Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker on Wednesday announced that she convened the county’s grand jury to let them decide. They returned the indictments and Becker filed them with Elkhart Circuit Court Tuesday evening.
In addition to Level 6 felony official misconduct, Anderson and his chief deputy clerk, Carol Smith, are charged with misdemeanor conversion. They were told to turn themselves into police. Jail records showed Anderson and Smith were held in the jail Wednesday afternoon.
Becker says Smith in 2022 had sent an email to a newly appointed supervisor, saying, “You get paid for 80 hours even though you only work 72. The idea is the Supervisor is usually first in and last out, so it’s just a bit of extra for the Supervisor taking on the job.”
