Former ECSO Officer McQuarie found not guilty of Ghost Employment

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- On the evening of Oct. 22, an Elkhart County jury found former Elkhart County Sheriff’s Special Services Officer Donald McQuarie not guilty of felony Ghost Employment after an internal affairs investigation by the sheriff’s office was referred to the Indiana State Police for further review of possible criminal charges in 2022.

According to the Probable Cause Affidavit filed in the case, McQuarie was accused of overlapping hours of employment as a security officer at a local bank and his shift at the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. In the case, the prosecution was trying to prove McQuarie was being paid by both employers on multiple dates between Nov. 9, 2021, and March 8, 2022.

McQuarie's attorney, Phillip Miller, showed jurors how McQuarie’s attendance records with both employers and large files of global positioning data were gathered from McQuarie’s patrol car to track McQuarie’s location for all dates in question.

"The defense argued that the investigation failed to consider all data, including days that McQuarie’s hours working for the ECSO exceeded his paid hours with the sheriff’s office," Miller said. "The defense also maintained that the Ghost Employment law was improperly applied to McQuarie’s situation. The jury returned with an acquittal within an hour of its deliberations."

McQuarie had served Elkhart County as an officer for more than 25 years when the charge was filed.

The investigation focused on McQuarie and one other ECSO Special Services Officer who is still awaiting trial.