STARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU) – According to our reporting partners at WNDU, a former Starke County sheriff’s deputy will spend the next couple of months behind bars after pleading guilty to a charge in a criminal case dating back to 2020.
Indiana State Police announced that on Tuesday, Don Ferguson was sentenced to 60 days in the Starke County Jail, plus four months of probation, after pleading guilty to filing a false police report.
The investigation into Ferguson began in January of 2020; for misappropriation of evidence at the Starke County Sheriff’s Department. According to police, the investigation revolved around money and drugs that had gone missing from the evidence room at the sheriff’s department.
In September of 2022, a grand jury indicted Ferguson on charges of:
- Official misconduct (4 counts)
- Theft of a Firearm
- Theft
- False Reporting
- Conversion
In August, a jury trial began and concluded with not guilty findings on four of Ferguson’s eight charges. There was a hung jury on the remaining four charges.
According to police, the remaining charges were dismissed on Tuesday when Ferguson pleaded guilty to the false reporting charge.
Ferguson was indicted in 2022 alongside fellow former Starke County detective Adam Gray. According to online court records, Gray was sentenced in 2023 to one year of home detention and six months of probation after reaching a plea agreement. He was discharged from probation earlier this year.
