FWPD officer terminated over theft of guns belonging to older man in crisis

Investigation began after older man's son went to authorities

FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---The Probable Cause has obtained the legal findings leading to the termination of a Fort Wayne officer.

Zachary Chapman, an FWPD 10-year veteran, was found guilty of theft, official misconduct and improper conduct, not by a court of law, but the Board of Public Safety. 

Fort Wayne Police Chief P.J. Smith at June 4 Board of Safety meeting to discuss the termination of Officer Zachary Chapman. Other officer suspensions were voted on that day.

The board voted to terminate Chapman Monday at a special session.

In March 2025, Chapman paid an older, mentally ill man $20 for seven guns found to be worth $4,500 when the man told Chapman six times he wanted the guns destroyed.

Chapman had had numerous interactions with Blair Hess while working the C-shift (overnight) in the northeast quadrant. Hess was well known to a few officers and would, in particular, engage them at a gas station near his home and talk about “politics and religion and to ‘get things off his chest’,” the findings said.

One officer who met Hess a couple of times described Hess as “pretty schizophrenic” and “someone who thought he was being spied upon and that whole shebang,” the report said.

Chapman and a couple of other officers even discussed whether the guns could be purchased, however, Hess also stated he was “adamant” they be destroyed so his neighbors wouldn’t bother him anymore. Neighbors had taken out protective orders against him, he said.

On the night of the incident in mid-March, Chapman went to Hess’s home and after several times when Hess demanded that the firearms be destroyed, the officer loaded them into his car. 

Then he sent a message to another officer to say Hess was “adamant they be destroyed.”

For two hours, Chapman processed paperwork for the firearms in a CVS parking lot next to an FWPD outpost on State Street. A shift sergeant told Chapman he needed a “property receipt slip with Blair Hess’s signature.”

At 2 a.m. on March 12, Chapman returned to Hess’s home to get Hess’s signature on the required paperwork, but failed to turn on his body cam.

During this unrecorded conversation, Chapman claimed that Hess told him he could have the firearms if he notified Hess’s neighbors that the guns were gone and gave him several names to contact.

Chapman went back to his squad car and called his sergeant to say Hess was offering to give him the firearms. His sergeant told him that he had to offer Hess some form of payment and wasn’t allowed to take the firearms for free.

The report states that officers are not allowed to accept gifts worth more than $50,  but the FWPD “does not have a policy prohibiting or regulating officers purchasing weapons from citizens.”

Chapman went back to Hess’s home and offered him $20 for the seven firearms, knowing that they were worth more than that. Additionally Hess refused to sign the FWPD paperwork.

Chapman didn’t live up to his agreement with Hess on the neighbors because he “forgot” to notify them, the report stated.

In an incident report, Chapman wrote “Blair Hess later was contacted and advised that he wished to just give me the firearms; however I did leave $20.”

An investigation was undertaken in April 2025 when David Hess, Blair Hess’s son, contacted an Indiana State trooper about a letter his father sent him concerning the guns.

Chapman was told to return the firearms and put them in the property room until the investigation was completed.

Then the FWPD asked the Indiana State Police to investigate, a standard practice in police investigations.

The ISP detective determined that the firearms were worth about $4,500.

The detective also reviewed Chapman’s body cam interactions with Hess. However, Chapman did not turn on his body cam during that one crucial visit to Hess at 2 a.m. when he needed his signature.

Former Police Chief Scott Caudill sent a request to Internal Affairs on July 8, 2025 to investigate the situation.

“On March 11, 2025, Officer Zachary Chapman, while working in his official capacity as a police officer …used his position in manipulating an elderly gentleman who appeared to be in a manic state of being. Chapman continuously attempted to purchase seven firearms from the gentleman who demanded they be destroyed, he had no interest in selling the weapons. Chapman then laid $20 on a piece of furniture, telling the man to pay it forward. Chapman then took the weapons home as if purchased,” Caudill wrote in his letter to FWPD Internal Affairs.

In February, new Fort Wayne Police Chief P.J. Smith petitioned the board for Chapman’s termination, alleging that Chapman had violated the trust the police department must have with the residents it serves. 

The Allen County Prosecutor’s office told the board that Chapman’s conduct during the incident “constituted theft,” because “he knowingly paid a fraction of the true value of the firearms while fully aware that Blair Hess lacked the mental capacity to understand or consent to the transaction."

However, the Allen County Prosecutor declined to file charges against Chapman, the report stated.

What Chapman committed was an administrative felony, meaning that even though the Allen County Prosecutor declined to file a felony charge, the Fort Wayne Police pursued his dismissal due to FWPD rules and regulations.