Former Elkhart County captain charged with false informing

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- A former member of the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office has been charged with three counts of false informing in connection with an investigation into process servers for being paid for work they allegedly did not perform.

Captain James Bradberry is facing three counts of false informing resulting in substantial hindrance to law enforcement.

Bradberry was placed on administrative leave in January 2019 and his resignation was accepted on March 2.

In September 2017, then Sheriff Brad Rogers asked the Indiana State Police to investigate claims that Susan G. Graves, Mary E. Letherman, and Steven R. Mock were paid for 2,500 hours of work between 2014 and 2017, which they did not perform.

During the investigation, Captain Bradberry was questioned about the allegations.

Bradberry told investigators he never authorized the process servers to claim hours they weren't working.

In September 2018, Bradberry testified in a grand jury proceeding about the process servers.

During that testimony, Bradberry testified he didn't authorize the process servers to take extended lunches, stop for extended periods of time or claim hours they were not working, according to the probable cause affidavit.

He added he had no knowledge and wasn't aware of what was going on.

He also testified he didn't feel the need to review the GPS data because the servers hadn't given him a reason to, reports said.

Bradberry also testified the process servers said they were 'slow' and knew one of them was leaving early but didn't know things were as bad as they were, reports said.

After felony charges were filed against the three process servers, Bradberry was scheduled for a deposition in January 2019.

On January 4, Bradberry advised the deputy prosecutor he had not been forthcoming. He said in addition to the conversation he had already detailed about the process servers being slow, there were other conversations he did not disclose, according to the probable cause affidavit.

In 2014, a new process server said he didn't know if there was enough work to do, and Bradberry replied it was just slow, reports said.

Another time someone mentioned process servers were slow, Bradberry replied not to say it too loud or they'd lose the position, reports said.

In early 2017, a process server mentioned they were slow. Bradberry said he replied to 'pace themselves,' according to the probable cause affidavit.

In January 2019, investigators learned Bradberry had also overheard a process server say to another that he didn't know about them going home, reports said.

Charges against Bradberry were filed on March 5, 2019.

His initial hearing is scheduled for March 29.

Graves, Letherman, and Mock will all face a trial by jury May 5.