Ex-police chief sentenced for taking cash

GREENSBURG, Ind. (WISH) – The former Greensburg police chief who stole money from the police department property room was sentenced Tuesday.

Stacey Chasteen, who used the money for gambling, will serve two years for her crimes.

Chasteen was charged with official misconduct and theft. She was sentenced to two years on both charges, but two of those years were suspended and won’t be served.

In November, Chasteen abruptly resigned from the department. Just a couple weeks later, a police department employee noticed $72,945 in cash missing from the property room. The money was there as part of an investigation into an illegal massage parlor, court documents indicate.

Police interviewed Chasteen’s husband, the Greensburg fire chief, who explained that his wife had a gambling problem and was borrowing money from family to pay back the money she took from the property room, according to court documents. Police also interview Stacey Chasteen, who said she began stealing money from the property room in 2006 and stopped some time during or after 2013. She also admitted to taking the $72,945 from the massage parlor case.