Police: Officer Stole Money Order From Suspect's Home

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis police officer stole a $725 money order during a search of a drug suspect's home and cashed it for himself last year, authorities said Monday.

Officer Jason Edwards, 36, was arrested Monday and charged with forgery and theft, police and the Marion County prosecutor's office said.

Police said Edwards was one of the narcotics unit officers who executed a search warrant at a suspect's Indianapolis home on Dec. 7. Later, the suspect realized a $725 money order he bought from a bank to pay his rent was missing from his wallet, which he said had been in his bedroom during the search, according to police.

When the suspect told the bank that his money order was missing, the bank told him that the order had been cashed, and a copy showed that the name Jason Edwards was on the "pay to the order of" line and a Jason Edwards signature was on the back, police said in a probable cause affidavit.

The suspect contacted police, who last week determined that the signature matched that of the officer, according to the affidavit.

When a detective asked Edwards about the money order, Edwards said he saw the money order lying on the street outside the suspect's home during the Dec. 7 search, according to the affidavit.

Edwards said the "purchaser" and "pay to the order of" lines were blank, and he decided to cash it, police said.

Edwards "said he knew he should not have cashed it but needed money and took it to his bank ... and received $725," the affidavit said.

Edwards said he put a fake name on the order's purchaser line, put his own name on the recipient line and signed the back with his own name to endorse it, according to the affidavit.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has suspended Edwards without pay, and Police Chief Michael Spears will recommend to a civilian merit board that Edwards be fired, 6News reported.

Edwards has been an Indianapolis police officer for eight years, the department said.