By RICK YENCER
ryencer@muncie.gannett.com

(Published Friday, Nov. 20 2009) NEW CASTLE — A day after his arrest on racketeering and ghost employment charges, Douglas Sheets was back at work Thursday as director of Henry County Community Corrections program.

Sheets, 57, a retired Indiana State Police detective, is accused of altering and approving time cards of employees, allowing them to be paid for more hours than they worked. He also allegedly allowed HCCC employees to use vehicles and equipment belonging to the program for personal use, such as attending sporting events and traveling to a gambling casino and golf courses.

Sheets is also accused of allowing an HCCC employee to use an office computer to run a private business.

Also arrested Wednesday after a state police investigation of alleged corruption within the HCCC, which operates under the supervision of Henry County law enforcement and criminal justice officials, were James D. Heffernan, 39, the program’s home detention manager and Matthew Patterson, 38, a community corrections field officer.

Both Heffernan and Patterson are veteran New Castle police officers, and were suspended without pay from those duties by Police Chief James Nicholson after Wednesday’s arrests.

Heffernan was back at work in the HCCC office Thursday, while Patterson reportedly no longer works there.

The police officers are accused of clocking in for work when they were playing golf, exercising at a local gym or conducting other personal business. The program oversees criminals placed on home detention and work release.

According to probable cause affidavits, Heffernan was found at the Anytime Fitness  gym numerous times between January and July 2009 while he was supposed to be working. He also allowed Patterson to play golf while he was on the program’s clock.

Sheets and Heffernan declined comment when approached by a reporter Thursday, but they did provide the name of their attorney, John Tompkins of Indianapolis. Tompkins did not return phone calls later in the day.

Sheets, Heffernan and Patterson all surrendered at the Henry County jail on Wednesday afternoon and were released after posting $1,000 bonds.

The racketeering charge, corrupt business influence, is a Class C felony carrying a standard four-year prison term. The men are also charged with official misconduct and three counts of ghost employment, all Class D felonies with standard 18-month sentences.

Henry Superior Court 2 Judge Robert Witham, president of the HCCC advisory board, on Thursday declined to comment about the investigation, the allegations or the prompt return to work by Sheets and Heffernan.

The board, whose members also include County Sheriff Butch Baker, Circuit Court Judge Mary Willis, Prosecutor Kit Crane and other officials, intends to meet Monday behind closed doors to discuss the situation. Sheets serves at the board’s pleasure and earns $46,504.

Willis found probable cause of the crimes on Wednesday and then excused herself from the case because she sits on the advisory board. Hancock Superior Court 1 Judge Terry Snow was appointed special judge in the cases. Crane also excused himself, and Special Prosecutor Julie Pottenger of Hamilton County will take over.

Willis said she was aware of the investigation, but declined to speculate on what the advisory board might do while the criminal cases are adjudicated.

The state police investigation began last spring after Henry County commissioners began receiving complaints about possible ghost employment within the HCCC program.

Commissioners President Kim Cronk, also captain of investigations for the county sheriff’s department, said other employees raised concerns that were forwarded to both state police and the State Board of Accounts.

The ISP’s white collar crime unit investigated the case and interviewed employees, kept the suspects under surveillance and used information from a mobile GPS system to make their case.

The SBA filed an initial audit last month that found differences in what auditors calculated as hours some employees worked and what appeared on time cards.

If there was a difference, the calculated hours were always less than what Sheets documented.

Cronk said he believed Sheets and Heffernan should be suspended while the criminal charges are pending, although the decision rests with the advisory board.

Contact news reporter Rick Yencer at 213-5833.