(NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that a former officer with the Newcomerstown Police Department is now facing charges for allegedly fabricating a story about being shot in the line of duty.
Prosecutors with Attorney General DeWine’s Special Prosecutions Section presented the case to a Tuscarawas County grand jury last week, and the resulting six-count indictment was made public today.
Bryan Eubanks, 37, is now charged with:
- One count of inducing panic, a felony of the fifth degree
- One count of making false alarms, a felony of the fifth degree
- Two counts of tampering with evidence, felonies of the third degree
- One count of forgery, a felony of the fifth degree
- One count of workers’ compensation fraud, a misdemeanor of the first degree
The inducing panic and making false alarms charges each carry two firearm specifications.
An investigation conducted by the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office found that on April 11, 2017, then-Officer Eubanks shot himself while on duty, but claimed he was shot by a man in a vehicle after stopping the car for a traffic violation.
“The fictional story that this defendant is accused of concocting led to a response involving local, state, and federal authorities, and an Ohio Blue Alert was issued to put the entire state on alert,” said Attorney General DeWine. “Considerable resources were used to investigate the claims, and there must be consequences for needlessly causing such serious alarm.”
The investigation found that the defendant also allegedly tampered with evidence directly related to the case.
Additionally, an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation found that Eubanks allegedly forged workers’ compensation documents to fraudulently apply for benefits related to his injury.