FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. — A Harrison County Sheriff's Deputy turned himself in on felony charges after allegedly posing as a New Albany police officer in an accusatory email.
The Floyd County Prosecutor charged 37-year-old Ralph Weaver with one count of obstruction of justice and one count of identity deception, both are felony charges.
According to Indiana State Police, in May of 2022, someone sent an email to ISP, the Floyd County Prosecutor's office, the Floyd County Sheriff, the Floyd County Courts system and two regional news outlets.
The email's author identified themselves as a current New Albany police officer and made allegations of officer misconduct within the department. The email claimed that although reports were made, the issues weren't addressed.
"The sender not only identified himself as a particular New Albany officer but also included a telephone number and identifying information about his family," ISP said in a press release.
After receiving the report, ISP said detectives began investigating the allegations. Police first contacted the officer who allegedly sent the email.
The officer told investigators he hadn't sent the email and had no knowledge of the email being sent, so police began looking into potential identity deception while investigating the allegations.
Officers sent a search warrant to Google. According to the probable cause affidavit, the email address belonged to a Verizon subscriber and the person had even searched "when will police track an IP address."
Then a warrant to Verizon uncovered the IP address belonged to Ralph Weaver. The affidavit also showed Weaver was a New Albany olice officer, who resigned during an internal investigation.
There was also another clue. According to the affidavit, Weaver called investigators to ask about the email. A detective told him ISP was looking into it for identity deception. The detective said Weaver asked him if there could be a crime of impersonating a police officer if a police officer was the one who sent the email.
Following the investigation, the Floyd County Superior Court issued an arrest warrant for Weaver on Monday. ISP said Weaver was a former New Albany City Police Officer.
Harrison County Sheriff Nick Smith told WHAS11 Weaver turned himself in after ISP filed charges.
Detectives also discovered the alleged offenses in the email had previously been arrested and investigated by ISP and New Albany Police. The Floyd County Prosecutor discussed the results with the investigators and concurred with their findings, police said.