News Release

STARKE COUNTY — Former Starke County Sheriff deputy Don Ferguson has been sentenced to jail time following a yearslong investigation into missing evidence from the department.

Don Ferguson

Ferguson was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 23 to 60 days in jail after pleading guilty to the Class B misdemeanor of filing a false police report. He will also serve four months of probation after his release, according to Indiana State Police.

The plea deal marks the conclusion of a case that began in 2020, when state police launched an investigation into drugs and cash that had gone missing from the sheriff’s department’s evidence room. Ferguson was indicted by a grand jury in September 2022 on eight charges, including multiple counts of official misconduct, theft of a firearm, theft, false reporting and conversion.

A jury trial in August resulted in not-guilty verdicts on four counts, while jurors could not reach a decision on the remaining charges. Ferguson later admitted to filing a false report, leading to his sentencing this week.

The same state police investigation also implicated Adam Gray of Knox, another former deputy. Gray accepted a plea agreement last October in which six charges were dismissed. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of official misconduct and was sentenced to six months of home detention followed by three months of probation.

The Indiana State Police described the case as part of a broader probe into the misappropriation of evidence at the Starke County Sheriff’s Department.