Pubdate: Fri, 18 Aug 2006
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Copyright: 2006 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html
Website: http://www.starnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210
Author:  Paul Bird Greenwood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

POLICE CRITIC CHARGED IN GREENWOOD DRUG CASE

Real-estate agent Theodore B. Ebeyer has publicly criticized what he 
sees as lax drug enforcement by police.

Thursday night, Greenwood Police narcotic detectives arrested Ebeyer, 
51, on an allegation of aiding in dealing cocaine.

Other allegations against Ebeyer include possession of cocaine and 
neglect of a dependant. He was being held this afternoon at the 
Johnson County Jail on $122,000 bail. He lives in the 1700 block of 
Woodcroft Court.

Two police informants assisted in the probe.

Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher said Ebeyer began bombarding the 
police department with email and telephone tips about drug dealers 
soon after he became chief in February 2005.

Ebeyer also spoke out on the issue in at least one interview with an 
Indianapolis TV station.

"He had an unusual interest in what we were doing with the 
information," Pitcher said. "It was clear to me (at the time) that he 
was either fishing to find out if we had found out something about 
him or was trying to direct us to a drug dealer that he had an interest."

Investigation Commander Matthew Fillenwarth said he spoke with Ebeyer 
several times.

"He always wanted to know what we had done with the information he 
gave us," Fillenwarth said.

In a document supporting Ebeyer's arrest, Detective Joseph Rodriguez 
wrote that he met four weeks ago with Ebeyer; his wife, Pamela; and 
their 17-year-old daughter.

Ted Ebeyer told Rodriguez he could provide names of several drug 
dealers, but added: "You would do nothing with it."

In the TV interview, Ebeyer said he would "lay my life down" or "do 
whatever it takes" to keep drugs out of his neighborhood and schools 
- -- and away from his children, the police document said.

Now, police say Ebeyer used his daughter to purchase drugs for him. 
She was not arrested.

Thursday afternoon, Fillenwarth said, Ebeyer withdrew $1,300 from a 
Greenwood bank branch; he and his daughter left their home in a 2007 
Cadillac and drove to a parking lot near Smith Valley Road and Ind. 135.

Using surveillance techniques, Rodriguez said, he recorded a 
conversation in which Ebeyer asked his daughter if she had purchased 
the cocaine yet, according to the police document.

Ebeyer then entered a restaurant, and his daughter drove his car to a 
meeting with a man who allegedly sold her an ounce of cocaine for $1,000.

She returned to the restaurant and met her father, telling him the 
drugs were in the glove box.

As a police car's emergency lights lit up, the document said, Ebeyer 
began shouting for his daughter to get the drugs and "stuff it down 
you pants, stuff it down your (expletive) pants!"

"More arrests are forthcoming," Pitcher said. "We are just getting started."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman