New Chicago town officials couldn’t immediately determine if they completed a background check on Police Chief Earl Mayo before he was appointed chief in 2023.
Authorities charged Mayo, 45, of Merrillville, with seven felonies on Sunday related to selling guns confiscated in town police investigations and selling them to a Hobart pawn shop, and for allegedly possessing an anabolic steroid.
Police arrested him in Ohio on May 22 and he’s being held in the Clark County Jail in Springfield.
“When the extradition process is complete in Ohio, Lake County Sheriff’s Department police officers will pick Earl Mayo up and bring him back to Lake County,” Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s office also charged Tanika Roshawn Borders, 47, of Merrillville, for assisting Mayo and for possession of anabolic steroids.
The charges have rocked the one-square-mile town where Mayo led community service events and is now on administrative leave.
“It’s very much a shocking surprise to us. In my experience with him, he’s been an exemplary police officer. Now, we’re finding out things he allegedly did,” said Town Attorney Lloyd Mullin.
“A lot of people felt really let down. He had done a lot of good things for the community, he really reached out to children,” said Mullin. “At Christmas time, he tried to get kids bicycles.”
Police Commission President John Krikava said he didn’t have Mayo’s file available and said he would have to check on the records after he left work.
Mullin said the commission is expected to place Mayo on suspension during its June 1 meeting.
On Friday, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez announced county police took over policing powers in New Chicago. Mullin said New Chicago has resumed its police authority.
Before Mayo became chief, Mullin said he had been a member of the department.
Mullin was unsure if town officials checked Mayo’s background. “I don’t know, but he’d been a police officer for five years,” Mullin said of Mayo’s status before he was named chief.
A public access site of Indiana court dockets showed a theft misdemeanor conviction in 2000.
Mullin was unsure of Mayo’s salary. Krikava said the town council sets salaries.
Mullin thought Mayo received about $26 an hour for a 48-hour week.
A public records database, Indiana Gateway, showed Mayo received a total of $100,238 from New Chicago last year. He also received $892 as a student resource officer for the River Forest Community School Corp.
“Chief Mayo has been removed from our SRO list pending the outcome of the investigation,” River Forest Superintendent Kevin Trezak said in an email to the Post-Tribune Tuesday evening.
The Gateway database listed Town Manager Sue Pelfrey receiving $48,060 in 2025.
County officials didn’t respond to queries about the outcomes of cases involving Mayo and confiscated weapons or when he will be returned to Lake County.
He faces seven felonies, including two theft counts, two official misconduct counts, one attempted obstruction of justice count, and two counts of unlawful possession of an anabolic steroid.
The alleged thefts came to light after police tracked a firearms trace from a deputy prosecutor for a handgun. Police said it had been seized as evidence by New Chicago police. The trace led to a Hobart pawn shop. The pawn shop manager told police Mayo sold 12 guns to the shop.
Mayo is the son of Lake County Democratic sheriff nominee State Police Maj. Jerry Williams.
“If it is ultimately established that Earl engaged in the conduct alleged by the government, then he must and should accept responsibility for his actions and face the consequences,” Williams said in a statement released Saturday.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
