HAMMOND | A former East Chicago police officer is accused of falsely claiming he worked the same hours on the same days for different employers, federal court records show.
Shawn Pitts was indicted last week on federal mail fraud charges for his alleged actions between February 2009 and September 2011, according to Hammond federal court records. The case was unsealed Tuesday.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Pitts signed time sheets falsely claiming he had worked at a housing project when he actually had been working as a police officer and as a security guard at a second housing project and a credit union.
It is considered mail fraud because his paychecks were mailed from the second housing project to his home, court records show.
Pitts worked at the East Chicago Police Department for 14 years. He left there in September 2011.
"We're disappointed that an officer's conduct would rise to the level of a grand jury indictment," East Chicago Police Chief Mark Becker said Tuesday.
Becker joined the Police Department in 2012 — after Pitts already had left.
He said Pitts is innocent until proven guilty.
"It will have to work its way through the system," Becker said.
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