Former Starke County Sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 60 days in jail

STARKE COUNTY, Ind. — A former Starke County Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to 60 days in jail on Tuesday.

According to a press release from Indiana State Police, Don Ferguson received the sentence after pleading guilty to one count of filing a false police report — a Class B Misdemeanor. The charge stems from a 2020 investigation conducted by ISP.

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That investigation, according to state police, was related to the “misappropriation of evidence at the Starke County Sheriff’s Department.” ISP indicated that Ferguson had been linked to drugs and cash that had gone missing from SCSD’s evidence room.

More than two years after ISP first began investigating the case, a grand jury was assembled. That jury indicted Ferguson in September 2022 on the following charges:

• Four counts of officials misconduct — a Level 6 Felony
• One count of theft of a firearm — a Level 6 Felony
• One count of theft — a Class A Misdemeanor
• One count of false reporting —a Class B Misdemeanor
• One count of conversion — a Class A Misdemeanor

A jury trial was held in Ferguson’s case in August. The jury in that trial found Ferguson not guilty on four out of the eight counts he faced. The jury was hung on the remaining four charges Ferguson faced.

Despite the result of his jury trial, Ferguson pleaded guilty to filing a false police report on Tuesday. Upon pleading guilty, Ferguson received his 60-day jail sentence, which also began Tuesday.

Ferguson was ordered to serve four months of probation following his release from jail.

Previous reporting indicates Adam Gray of Knox is also implicated in the same ISP investigation as Ferguson. Like Ferguson, Gray was also a Starke County Sheriff’s deputy.

Public court reporting systems indicate Gray accepted a plea agreement on Oct. 8. As part of the agreement, six of the eight charges Gray faced were dropped. He officially pleaded guilty to two Level 6 Felony counts of official misconduct.

Gray was sentenced to six months of home detention followed by three months of probation.