IMPD probationary officer fired for filing false reports, theft charges

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A probationary officer with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has been fired following an investigation.

According to IMPD, Juan Baez III was terminated by the department after a Johnson County criminal investigation. 

The investigation determined that Baez III, who had been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, did file false police reports and also pawned stolen items.

Baez is accused of stealing and then selling both department-issued and personal items that he had reported as stolen.  

On Sept. 1, Baez III filed a report with the Greenwood Police Department, saying that his house was burglarized resulting in those items being stolen. 

However, officers discovered during the course of their investigation that those items which were reported stolen by Baez III had been, in fact, sold or pawned at First Cash Pawn in Indianapolis and a Greenwood GameStop location.

Among those items stolen and then sold by Baez belonging to IMPD were a ballistic helmet and vest.

Baez is also accused of counterfeiting for signing a sales agreement, saying that he did have the right to sell those items.

The findings of the investigation were presented to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office which resulted in several charges against Baez, who had been with the department for one year.

Baez III faces charges for counterfeiting, theft and false informing.

“With the filing of these charges, we hope to demonstrate again that a public safety officer is not above the law and will be held accountable for criminal conduct. Indeed, such alleged conduct is not only a crime, but it is an abuse of the trust which we all place in our police officers,” according to Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry.