Former Porter County cop charged with embezzling over $180,000 from FOP lodge
NWI Times
September 24, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-porter-county-cop-charged-with-embezzling-over-from-fop/article_9902e501-8651-53cf-ab05-552ee7767e69.html
HAMMOND — A former Porter County Sheriff's Department lieutenant has been accused in federal court of embezzling over $180,000 from a local Fraternal Order of Police lodge.
Lawrence W. LaFlower, 42, of Valparaiso, was charged with one count of wire fraud and has entered into a plea agreement with the government. He is expected to formally enter his plea of guilty in court later this week, according to a news release from U.S. attorney's office.
LaFlower, who also served for a time as the department's public information officer, resigned from the Sheriff's Department in May.
According to court documents, LaFlower was also the treasurer of the Ewalt Jahnz Lodge No. 165, an organization which works to improve working conditions for officers and raises money for scholarships and other programs.
LaFlower allegedly embezzled more than $180,000 from the FOP between April 5, 2013, and April 28, 2018.
The FOP lodge maintained two checking accounts. LaFlower allegedly wrote approximately 31 checks from one of the accounts to himself without authorization and without approval from the FOP's executive board, according to documents.
On April 2, 2018, LaFlower wrote a check for $1,500 from one of the accounts and deposited it in a personal account, which caused a wire transmission of funds that was routed through the Federal Bank in Atlanta.
The documents also alleged that about 85 times between the 2013 and 2018 dates, LaFlower made cash withdrawals from one of the accounts and had transferred over $150,000 from one FOP-owned account to another with the "intention of withdrawing those funds for personal use."
LaFlower also allegedly lied to the FOP's board and altered and created fictitious bank and investment account statements to cover up the fraudulent transactions, according to court records. He is also accused of failing to file the FOP's federal tax returns.
"Public officials who abuse their positions for personal financial gain will not be tolerated. My office, with our law enforcement partners, will continue to pursue those who corrupt their office for self-serving motives," said U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch in the news release.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Indiana State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Abizer Zanzi.
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