Final defendant in MPD brutality probe to plead guilty, resigns as police officer
MUNCIE, Ind. — After two U.S. District Court trials that ended with hung juries, a Muncie police officer has agreed to plead guilty to a count stemming from a federal investigation of local police brutality.
A plea agreement signed Monday by Corey Posey would end his career in law enforcement.
The 31-year-old Posey is scheduled to plead guilty to obstruction of justice on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
The count stems from an an allegation that Posey falsified a report describing the events of Aug. 9, 2018. when fellow officer Chase Winkle physically assaulted an arrestee.
The terms of the deal call for Posey to avoid prison, instead serving a year on probation, including three months on home detention.
Posey — on administrative leave from the Muncie Police Department since being indicted by a federal grand jury in 2021 — in July was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Howard County.
The plea bargain signed this week calls for him to participate in an alcohol treatment program, as well as a mental health treatment program.
The deal also calls for Posey to "relinquish his Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board certification and no longer serve as a sworn law enforcement officer."
Police Chief Nate Sloan confirmed Monday that Posey had resigned from the Muncie Police Department.
Winkle on Aug. 30 was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to 11 charges stemming from attacks on local arrestees in 2018 and 2019.
He is now incarcerated at a federal prison in Memphis, Tennessee, with a projected release date in March 2032, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
The federal probe of excessive force allegations, largely aimed at Winkle, also resulted in convictions for three other former Muncie officers — two of them for filing false reports concerning Winkle's behavior.
If the terms of his plea agreement are accepted, Posey would become the first of five co-defendants to avoid a prison sentence.
Posey stood trial twice — in June and September — on the allegation he submitted a false report. Both trials ended with mistrials when the juries were unable to reach unanimous verdicts.
He had been scheduled to stand trial for a third time on Jan. 29.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie police officer resigns, to plead guilty in brutality probe
