A former East Chicago police officer has been charged in federal court with charging a housing complex for work he supposedly did as a security officer when he was actually on duty as a police officer.
Shawn Pitts faces four charges of mail fraud in connection with the case.
An indictment, filed a week ago and unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, says that Pitts, who joined the Police Department in 1997, also worked several other jobs as a security officer in 2009 through 2011.
According to the indictment, he defrauded one of those jobs by claiming he worked at one job when he was on duty at other jobs, including as a police officer. Other jobs included providing security at another housing project and at a credit union.
The mail fraud counts deal with four checks, two in 2009 and two in 2011, that were sent from the second housing project to his house because of his fraud.
According to court records, Pitts, who has not worked for the Police Department since September, was arrested Tuesday although no hearings had taken place as of Tuesday afternoon.