Porter County deputy John Morris, 24, was identified as the suspect in four cases stemming from complaints from four different women on four different occasions.
Three of the incidents took place in May and one took place this month.
After a female resident gave police a license plate number from an incident that happened on June 7, Porter County authorities were alerted the suspect was one of their own after spotting a Porter County Sheriff’s Office patrol parked in the driveway of the home linked to the plate number.
After questioning Morris at the sheriff’s department, it was determined he was the culprit in the most recent incident and likely a few others around the county as well, Porter County Sheriff spokesman Sgt. Jamie Erow said.
The investigation was then turned over to the Valparaiso Police Department, according to nwi.com.
The Accusations
The first incident happened May 3 after Morris stopped a woman in the parking lot of a Kohl’s asking for directions to Interstate 94 where she observed the officer, who was off-duty at the time, exposing himself.
The second incident occurred on May 21. A female said Morris stopped in front of her home asking for directions when she saw he was exposing himself.
Morris is also accused of exposing himself on May 22 after stopping in the parking lot of a Walmart to ask a woman for directions.
In a fourth incident reported on June 7, Morris stopped outside a woman’s home asking for directions to a bank when she observed him exposing himself.
The Porter County Sheriff’s Department issued a press release earlier this year stating Morris was one of five of its officers sworn into duty this January.
According to the release, Morris obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Indiana State University before he was hired as a jailer in August of 2016.
On Friday, Morris was called back to the sheriff’s department where his employment was terminated before he was booked into jail on misdemeanors.
He was released after posting an $800 bond.
