EVANSVILLE — The Evansville Police Department officers charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a public housing agency and a department store through an off-duty payment scheme acknowledged in text messages they were “getting free money.”
That’s according to an internal review of more than 450,000 text messages between the officers, husband and wife Bill and Stacy Shirley. The couple turned themselves in at the Vanderburgh County jail Monday after a judge issued warrants for their arrest.
The text messages, some of which are cited in probable cause affidavits, and other evidence including GPS data, electronic time punch systems and social media posts show the couple logged tens of thousands of dollars in work at Evansville Housing Authority properties despite not showing up for their shifts over a span of months, detectives allege…