Former deputy pleads guilty

A former Jay County Sheriff’s Office deputy will spend 1.5 years on probation for a crime committed while working for the department.

Derek J. Bogenschutz, 37, Peru, pleaded guilty Wednesday to identity deception, a Level 6 felony. He was sentenced to 545 days in Jay County Jail with all of his sentence suspended.

According to Indiana Code, identity deception is defined as “a person who, with intent to defraud or harm another person, knowingly or intentionally obtains, possesses, transfers, or uses identifying information to profess to be another person.”

Bogenschutz pleaded guilty to the crime, which occurred on Jan. 16, 2024. He resigned from the sheriff’s office on Feb. 29, 2024.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in connection with his case, Bogenschutz used a fake Facebook account — it had been created for state department investigations — under the name of Katie Morgan to contact a West Jay Elementary School teacher. He previously worked part-time as a school resource officer and went on a date with the teacher, the affidavit says.

Bogenschutz told the teacher that Katie Morgan and the teacher’s boyfriend were in a relationship and that the boyfriend had been “playing them,” documents say. 

Addressing the teacher under the fake name, Bogenschutz sent screenshots of messages between Katie Morgan and the teacher’s boyfriend.

The boyfriend called Union City police to report the Facebook account for harassment. Union City police brought up the situation to a Jay County Sheriff's Office deputy, who recalled Bogenschutz had a fake Facebook account under the same name that he used for Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force case work.

The deputy had access to the fake Facebook account and logged in, finding the messages on the account, according to the affidavit. He saved the evidence and reported his findings.

Jay County Commissioners terminated a contract with Bogenschutz’s software and web design company, Emerald Business Solutions, for the sheriff’s office website in March 2024. Redkey Town Council followed suit in January.

Bogenschutz was suspended from Jay County Sheriff's Office for five days in 2019 for acting improperly during a traffic stop in Clinton County.