Judge: Shahadey has shown 'pattern of dishonesty, deceit and disregard for the law'

INDIANAPOLIS --Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, United States District Court Southern District of Indiana, reversed the decision to allow Frank Shadadey to serve home incarceration pending trial.

Magnus-Stinson revoked the grant of pre-trial release, and orders  that Shahadey be remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending his trial. 

According to the documents today, the evidence that  Shahadey threatened to kill an individual (Ernie Thompson) -- after the June FBI raid of The Vigo County School Corp. administration offices -- was clear and convincing.


The Court further orders  that  Shahadey:  

• Be held in a correctional facility separate, to the extent practicable, from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal
• Be afforded reasonable opportunity for private consultation with counsel
• On order of the Court or on request of an attorney for the government, be delivered to the United States Marshal by the correctional facility for appearances in connection with a court proceeding. 
• The Court recommends that Shahadey be held in the medicalunit at Henderson County Detention Center, so that he will have access to his C-PAP machine.  

Evidence presented indicates "a pattern of dishonesty, deceit and disregard for the law."

​According to today's decision ,even after the FBI executed the search warrant and questioned co-defendent Frank Fennell in June ,  "Shahadey and  Fennell (both of Terre Haute) were not deterred and continued to engage in the kickback scheme."  In fact, investigation revealed that Shahadey and  Fennell demanded kickbacks resulting in at least $80,500 in inflated costs to Vigo County School Corp. from early 2014 to October 2016, 

Further attacks on Shahadeys integrity and information weighing against his pretrial release, as detailed in court documents,  included:

• Shahadey filed a police report stating that he injured his knee while chasing an individual in the line of duty, but Individual A was with Shahadey during the incident and stated that Shahadey complained of his knee injury immediately prior to the incident, and that another individual – not Mr. Shahadey – was actually the one who chased the individual. Shahadey has filed a workers’ compensation claim, and has relied on the apparently false police report to show that his injury occurred in the line of duty.  Shahadey represented to the Magistrate Judge (by proffer) that the injury occurred in the line of duty when arguing that he should not be detained because he has knee surgery scheduled for later this month.

• When FBI agents executed a search warrant at Shahadey’s residence, they recovered a safe that contained three handguns. The combination for the safe given by  Shahadey was not correct, so the agents used a locksmith to assist in opening the safe. When agents ran the serial numbers of the handguns, they discovered that two of the handguns had been reported stolen by Shahadey’s son, Keaton Shahadey. Keaton Shahadey had filed a police report with the Vigo County Sheriff's Department in August 2016, claiming that he had planned to go hunting, discovered the handguns were missing, and concluded that they were stolen while the family was on vacation in Florida. Instead, the handguns were in the family safe. The Court is Case 2:16-mj-00032-MJD Document 37 Filed 11/10/16 Page 5 of 12 PageID #: 211 - 6 - not persuaded by Shahadey’s argument that he forgot the handguns were in the safe, particularly because his passport was found in the safe as well;

• While Shahadey claims to be a decorated member of the VCSD, he has actually been disciplined on a number of occasions, and has been the subject of citizen complaints (including a complaint of extortion and a complaint related to a custody dispute). When a VCSD official attempted to locate Shahadey’s personnel file – to which  Shahadey and others had access – it was missing.

• On October 13, 2016, Shahadey ordered a VCSD dispatcher to run a criminal history for Ernie Thompson, and potential witness in this case that Shahadey  had threatened to kill. The dispatcher asked Shahadey if he was making the request on behalf of the VCSD or on behalf of the VCSC. Shahadey told the dispatcher several times to mind her own business. The dispatcher told Shahadey that if the request was not related to VCSD business, then it was a violation of the Indiana Administrative Code for her to run the report. Shahadey ordered the dispatcher to run the report, to obtain personal identifying information for Thompson. The dispatcher complied, and  Shahadey told her to “mind your own f**king business.” When she responded that it was her business because she had a duty to report code violations, Shahadey pointed his finger at her and said “I’m not done with this yet.” The dispatcher filed a formal complaint for harassment with the VCSD. Her immediate supervisors instructed her to check to see whether  Shahadey had run the criminal histories of any other individuals, and she discovered that Shahadey had run Individual A’s criminal history in 2014.

Events occurred after Shahadey's arrest that were concerning.

According to documents,  a Warrick County reserve officer and known associate of Shahadey attempted to enter the Henderson County Detention Center in Henderson, Kentucky, where Shahadey was being held on Nov.7: 

"The individual identified himself as a detective, and attempted to enter the facility outside of normal visiting hours through a restricted entrance that is only accessible by law enforcement officers who are on official business. Law enforcement officers who are not on official business or who are visiting inmates must use a different entrance and must visit during normal visiting hours. When officers at the facility questioned the individual, they discovered that he was attempting to deliver a prepaid calling card to Mr. Shahadey that contained a handwritten note from Shahadey’s family. The United States Marshals Service is continuing to investigate this matter."

Terre Haute Attorney Michael Ellis also motioned to withdrawl from the case today, as defendent has alternate representation and no longer in need of his service counsel, according to court documents.

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