New Albany officer accused of voyeurism allegedly had sexual relationship with informant

Additional charges of obstruction of justice and misconduct are pending in Floyd County, Prosecutor Chris Lane confirmed on Monday. A probable cause affidavit states Schneider became friends with a confidential informant in May of 2021, and had “frequent conversations about issues also concerning personal matters and sexual acts.”

The document also said Schneider and the informant allegedly shared communications coming from Schneider’s police issued cellphone and a personal cell phone.

In one incident described in the document, the informant told police that Schneider had coordinated the arrest of a suspect for the possession of methamphetamine. Schneider collaborated with the informant on the arrest outside of a restaurant in New Albany.

While the informant also had possession of methamphetamine at the time, Schneider only seized the suspects evidence. When the informant went to check her purse, she found the methamphetamine was missing, and that Schneider told her “she needed to get a new purse.”

In Schneider’s report, he denied removing methamphetamine from anywhere other than the suspect’s possession, according to the affidavit.

In another incident, Schneider made contact with the informant and found her in possession of methamphetamine multiple times. The informant said Schneider alleged he did not see the drugs and allowed her to retain them.

Later questioning revealed Schneider had only found the informant in possession of methamphetamine once and did not seize it, saying he did it “because she had done a good job during an investigation.”

A later incident said the informant had been fronted a half-ounce of methamphetamine and asked Schneider what to do with it. Schneider asked her how fast she could “flip” it, and told her to sell it, get rid of it and not get caught with it.

New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey did not make an additional comment on the new charges against Schneider, referring to his initial statement on Friday.

“At the NAPD, our officers are held to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct,” Bailey said. “When presented with the current allegations, we took appropriate action immediately.”