Not guilty was the verdict returned this week against a former Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department officer charged with felony ghost employment. But Sheriff Jeff Siegel says he has no regrets about starting the case.
A jury this week found former officer William Fackelman not guilty of ghost employment. Prosecutors said he was being paid by the county while also working off-duty security at a bank. Similar charges were brought against another officer, Don McQuarie, but a jury also found him not guilty in a trial last year.
Prosecutors filed the charges in 2022 after Siegel asked Indiana State Police to investigate, and the sheriff says he remains convinced McQuarie and Fackelman acted inappropriately.
Here was Siegel on Wednesday describing Fackelman.
"Sitting at home while claiming to be on duty, and then claiming to be on duty while working security at a bank. Those are wrong to me but we relied on a jury of our citizens and they found them not guilty."
Siegel says their cases have exposed the need for better supervision of officers.
"You are tasked and paid to be a supervisor," Siegel says. "It's in the name. You need to supervise and know what your officers are doing. Just because someone has worked here a long time doesn't mean you can turn a blind eye and assume that they're doing the right thing all the time."
