Press Release

FORT WAYNE — On Dec. 4, two Fort Wayne area state troopers celebrated milestone service anniversaries with the department.

Major Anthony Casto and Master Trooper Aaron Cook, both classmates of the 51st Indiana State Police Recruit Academy that graduated back on Dec. 4, 1994, have now surpassed 30 years of service.

Major Anthony Casto

Major Anthony Casto

Currently assigned as the North Zone Commander, Major Casto has command oversight of the day-to-day operations and personnel in the six northern ISP Districts, a position which he has held for roughly six years. Prior to this current assignment, Casto has held several other command positions, including the Area II Commander, District Commander for the Fort Wayne Post, and Squad Sergeant for the Fort Wayne Post.

Casto is a 2017 graduate of the FBI National Academy 267th Session, and also a 2014 graduate of the IMPD Leadership Academy Session 2014-02. Other notable assignments have included service as a K-9 handler with the Fort Wayne Post’s Drug Interdiction Team from 1998 to 2003, a scuba diver with Underwater Search & Rescue Team II, and he also served with the motorcycle patrol.

Casto is a 1986 graduate of LaPorte High School, and a 1990 graduate of Indiana State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education. Prior to joining ISP, Casto was a high school educator and also a coach for both boys’ and girls’ basketball and volleyball at Homestead High School from 1990 to 1993, and Whitko High School from 1993 to 1994.

Master Trooper Aaron Cook

Master Trooper Aaron Cook

Currently assigned as part of the Fort Wayne District’s All Crimes Policing (ACP) Squad, Cook primarily patrols Whitley and Allen Counties, diligently focused on highway criminal interdiction efforts. Prior to this current assignment, Cook served for five years as a Squad Sergeant for the Fort Wayne Post, responsible for the leadership and supervision of troopers assigned to Whitley and Huntington Counties.

He served as a member of the District’s Drug Interdiction Team from 1998-2003, and has been a member of the department’s Tactical Intervention Platoon.

As testament to Master Trooper Cook’s tenacious work ethic and dedication to duty, he has been notably awarded several times over the course of his 25-year tenure. In 2004, he was awarded the department’s second highest medal of valor, the Silver Star Award, as a result of his life-saving actions that rescued a driver from a crashed and burning vehicle in Whitley County.

In 2009, he was awarded the department’s Combat Action Award for heroic and exemplary action taken to protect himself and a fellow trooper while in the midst of a gunfight in rural Huntington County. In 2017, he was named as the Trooper of the Year for the Fort Wayne Post as related to his productive enforcement and interdiction patrols. Cook is a 1989 graduate of Columbia City, and lifelong resident of Whitley County.