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Sgt. Joe Mooney of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department was reassigned to the patrol division following an investigation into his alleged mishandling of evidence.
Mooney was previously on the Special Operations Team. His place there will be filled by another officer.
An internal review by the sheriff's department concluded earlier this month that Mooney did not properly forward information to the county prosecutor's office in an attempted murder case.
The information omitted included interviews pertinent to the October 1995 Leesburg shooting of Luis Martinez Diaz. The prosecutor's office had charged Raymond Montgomery, 22, of South Bend, with attempting to murder Diaz.
Prosecutor David Kolbe dismissed the case against Montgomery on Sept. 10 because of the incomplete evidence file received from Mooney, who headed the investigation. Kolbe accused Mooney of negligence and said he would not accept evidence on cases Mooney investigated.
In a statement last week, Sheriff Al Rovenstine said the three-man panel assigned to investigate the charges against Mooney found that "all participants in the case have committed errors.
These errors are correctable and the investigation and completion of this case are expected in the future."
Because the case was dismissed "without prejudice," Kolbe can bring charges against Montgomery again after the re-investigation is complete.
