Feds acknowledge wrongly accusing Evansville man\nEVANSVILLE -- Federal authorities have acknowledged they wrongly arrested an Evansville businessman in a large drug bust last month.\nThe Drug Enforcement Administration said Tuesday that one of the 37 people charged with participating in a drug ring that distributed $30 million worth of cocaine, heroin and marijuana in southern Indiana was falsely using the name of Charles Hall, 42.\n"As soon as we realized we made a mistake, we moved to correct it," said Armand McClintock, head of the Indiana office of the DEA. "The last thing we want to do is arrest an innocent man."\nHall said it's the second time in less than a year that he has been arrested by drug agents because of mistaken identity.\nMost recently, on July 16, authorities burst into the temporary-staffing business he owns and arrested him in front of his employees.\n"To say it's embarrassing is an understatement," Hall said. "Actually, I live in fear it will happen again."\nHall said his four children have been taunted by schoolmates. Even people in his church don't believe him, he said.\n"They keep saying, 'We're praying for you,' even after I tell them it was all a mistake," Hall said.\nAfter his arrest, Hall was taken to the federal courthouse in Evansville. He never appeared in court. He was released and told charges had been dropped. But his name was on the list of defendants given to the media at a news conference later on the day of his arrest.\nMcClintock said a DEA case agent apologized twice to Hall after his arrest. But Hall said it didn't feel like an apology.
Public contributes to fund to aid slain officer's daughter\n"He kept saying, 'We're watching you.'"\nINDIANAPOLIS -- An effort to create a trust fund for the 7-year-old daughter of a police officer killed in a shoot out last week has had a quick start, organizers said.\nOfficers who served with Patrolman Timothy Laird hope to raise $50,000 to help his daughter. Some of the money is being raised by selling $5 memorial stickers with an image of an Indianapolis police badge and Laird's badge number.\nThe fund was about halfway to that goal by Tuesday night, said Patrolman Paul Humphrey, one of the organizers. Many buyers insisted on making donations beyond the purchase price, he said.\nLaird, 31, was killed early Aug. 18 by a gunman who sprayed a neighborhood on the city's south side with bullets from an assault rifle after authorities said he fatally shot his mother. Another officer shot and killed the gunman, who police said had a history of mental problems.\nFour other officers wounded in the shooting spree have all been released from hospitals, while Laird's funeral was held Monday.\nDeputy Chief Tim Martin, commander of Laird's police district, said in an open letter Wednesday that officers were grateful for the phone calls, e-mails and words of support since Laird's death.\n"I have witnessed the loss of several Indianapolis police officers in the line of duty," Martin said. "While there has always been community support after these tragic instances, I have never witnessed such a response of this magnitude."
Ssubhead: Kokomo police captain pleads guilty to stealing task force money\nKOKOMO -- A former police captain who oversaw a drug task force pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he forged the signatures of fellow officers and stole more than $3,500.\nMichael Holsapple pleaded guilty in Howard Circuit Court to five counts of forgery and one count of theft. A sentencing date was not immediately set by Judge Lynn Murray.\nProsecutors said Holsapple, 52, forged signatures of fellow officers on the county drug task force on receipts for drug-buy money and kept more than $3,500 in cash.\nIndiana State Police investigators reported that Holsapple admitted using task force money for personal reasons and that he planned to repay it.\nA 25-year veteran of Kokomo Police Department, Holsapple was a member of the police force in the city some 40 miles north of Indianapolis for 25 years and headed the drug task force for eight years.\nThe money was found missing from the task force accounts a week after he retired from the department in February.\nWhen Holsapple anticipated an audit of the expense account, he realized it would be short $5,000 and forged the officers' names on drug-money receipts to make up for the missing money, according to police.
