Lake County, Indiana, grand jurors have indicted New Chicago Police Chief Earl Mayo on eight counts, accusing him of theft, official misconduct, obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of anabolic steroids. Prosecutors say Mayo took a Taurus G3 handgun owned by the Town of New Chicago without permission and sold it to a Lake County pawn shop on April 29, 2025.
Investigators say the gun was tied to an active criminal case and was removed from police custody before it was sold, then surfaced again in records tied to a separate criminal proceeding. Detectives later determined the Taurus G3 had been sold along with other firearms at Mega Cash Pawn in Hobart, and a pawn shop manager confirmed Mayo personally sold multiple guns and later tried to arrange the weapon’s return through intermediaries.
The indictment goes further. One count accuses Mayo of attempted obstruction of justice on Friday, when investigators say he tried to recover the pawned firearm before it could be used as evidence in a criminal case. Other charges allege he possessed anabolic steroids, including Trenbolone and Equipoise, without a valid prescription. Detectives also say a firearms trace connected to an upcoming trial revealed mismatches between evidence logs and pawn shop records, raising the question of how a police chief’s own department lost track of a gun that was supposed to be in custody.
Authorities say the investigation widened after Lake County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Police detectives examined the firearm trace and then searched Mayo’s home in Merrillville. They allege a woman connected to Mayo tried to destroy glass vials containing suspected steroids when confronted by investigators, and that Mayo made statements suggesting he kept items at home that “the feds would never find,” including firearm suppressors. Those allegations sit alongside the core charge in the case: that a chief entrusted with safeguarding evidence is accused of moving a police-owned gun into a pawn transaction instead.
Jerry Williams, Mayo’s father and an Indiana State Police major, addressed the case in a statement released Sunday. “My wife and I and our family are deeply concerned over recent information regarding our son, Earl Mayo, chief of the New Chicago Police Department,” he said. Williams added that he and his wife raised their children “with love, guidance and a strong foundation of values,” and said they have “very little information about this incident at this time.” He said they were aware of allegations that were troubling and that they struggled to reconcile them with the values they worked hard to instill.
Williams also stressed the presumption of innocence, saying Earl is presumed innocent unless and until proven otherwise, and that the legal process should be allowed to proceed fairly and impartially. For Mayo, the indictment now places the case in the hands of the courts, with prosecutors prepared to test whether the evidence shows not just a missing gun, but a pattern of concealment, misuse and unlawful possession that reached into the department’s own evidence room.
