POLICE CRITIC CHARGED IN GREENWOOD DRUG CASE

Real-estate agent Theodore B. Ebeyer has publicly criticized what he
sees as lax drug enforcement by police.

Thursday night, Greenwood Police narcotic detectives arrested Ebeyer,
51, on an allegation of aiding in dealing cocaine.

Other allegations against Ebeyer include possession of cocaine and
neglect of a dependant. He was being held this afternoon at the
Johnson County Jail on $122,000 bail. He lives in the 1700 block of
Woodcroft Court.

Two police informants assisted in the probe.

Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher said Ebeyer began bombarding the
police department with email and telephone tips about drug dealers
soon after he became chief in February 2005.

Ebeyer also spoke out on the issue in at least one interview with an
Indianapolis TV station.

"He had an unusual interest in what we were doing with the
information," Pitcher said. "It was clear to me (at the time) that he
was either fishing to find out if we had found out something about
him or was trying to direct us to a drug dealer that he had an interest."

Investigation Commander Matthew Fillenwarth said he spoke with Ebeyer
several times.

"He always wanted to know what we had done with the information he
gave us," Fillenwarth said.

In a document supporting Ebeyer's arrest, Detective Joseph Rodriguez
wrote that he met four weeks ago with Ebeyer; his wife, Pamela; and
their 17-year-old daughter.

Ted Ebeyer told Rodriguez he could provide names of several drug
dealers, but added: "You would do nothing with it."

In the TV interview, Ebeyer said he would "lay my life down" or "do
whatever it takes" to keep drugs out of his neighborhood and schools
- -- and away from his children, the police document said.

Now, police say Ebeyer used his daughter to purchase drugs for him.
She was not arrested.

Thursday afternoon, Fillenwarth said, Ebeyer withdrew $1,300 from a
Greenwood bank branch; he and his daughter left their home in a 2007
Cadillac and drove to a parking lot near Smith Valley Road and Ind. 135.

Using surveillance techniques, Rodriguez said, he recorded a
conversation in which Ebeyer asked his daughter if she had purchased
the cocaine yet, according to the police document.

Ebeyer then entered a restaurant, and his daughter drove his car to a
meeting with a man who allegedly sold her an ounce of cocaine for $1,000.

She returned to the restaurant and met her father, telling him the
drugs were in the glove box.

As a police car's emergency lights lit up, the document said, Ebeyer
began shouting for his daughter to get the drugs and "stuff it down
you pants, stuff it down your (expletive) pants!"

"More arrests are forthcoming," Pitcher said. "We are just getting started."