Charges against Four Seasons security workers dropped
CROWN POINT IN Aug 19 2021 — Prosecutors dropped charges against two Lakes of the Four Seasons security workers, and a defense attorney for the gated community’s property owners’ association said Tuesday he expects the entity will be offered a pretrial diversion agreement.
The Lake County prosecutor’s office charged the association and its two security workers in December with impersonation of a police office, a level 6 felony.
In late July, Lake County Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Barbara McConnell filed a motion to dismiss charges against security workers Adam L. Wood, 22, of South Haven, and Michael R. Almada, 24, of Portage.
The motion said the charges were to be dismissed “in the interest of justice.”
Defense attorney Steve Mullins told Judge Salvador Vasquez during a hearing Tuesday he anticipates McConnell will approve a pretrial diversion program for his remaining client, the property owners’ association itself.
Mullins said he and McConnell were still negotiating the language in the proposed agreement.
In November 2018, Indiana State Police raided the security building at the main entrance to Lakes of the Four Seasons, a subdivision near Winfield.
At the time, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed search warrants were being served on Lakes of the Four Seasons security as part of a probe into reports of drunken driving and other traffic offenses that weren’t reported to state or local authorities.
In some cases, motorists driving on the private roadways of the gated subdivision were reportedly pulled over, detained and even assessed fines ranging into the hundreds of dollars, payable to the homeowners’ association, the source said.
Vasquez scheduled the association’s next court date for Sept. 1.
