- October 24, 2021
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SOUTH BEND — A South Bend police officer has been arrested on child seduction and other charges for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
Timothy Barber, 36, was arrested Tuesday in Elkhart. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
Barber is accused of two felony counts of child seduction, two felony counts of official misconduct and misdemeanor counts of public indecency and public nudity.
According to a release from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office, police in Mishawaka were contacted Oct. 5 about allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor involving a South Bend police officer.
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The Special Victims Unit investigated the allegations, and probable cause was approved for the charges against Barber on Tuesday.
Elkhart and South Bend police joined the SVU in making the arrest.
According to charging documents, the girl’s parents found correspondences with Barber on her phone and contacted police.
When interviewed by investigators, the girl said she met Barber at work in July and he has asked her for her phone number.
The two corresponded until an August encounter, when Barber picked the girl up from in his squad car in uniform and took her to a location where the two had intercourse, documents say. Another sexual encounter allegedly occurred in September, when Barber picked up the girl and again drove to a location.
According to the charging documents, there also were two instances where Barber exposed himself while the girl was at work — once while she was working a drive-thru window and once when she was working outside.
The girl told police she was intimidated by Barber and felt pressured to have sex with him because he was a police officer, court documents say.
Investigators said in charging documents they obtained GPS records of Barber’s squad car on the days the girls claimed sexual encounters took place. The GPS coordinates coincided with the girl’s statements of the incidents, the documents say.
In a statement posted to the South Bend Police Department’s Facebook page, officials said if Barber is found guilty, he will be terminated.
“We will always be dedicated to protecting and serving our community and we take all crimes and allegations seriously; even those involving our officers,” said South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski in a prepared statement. “The officer was immediately relieved of duty two weeks ago when we were made aware of these allegations.
Barber was placed on paid leave on Oct. 6, which was changed to unpaid leave by the Board of Public Safety on Wednesday.
“These allegations are disturbing and have no place in SBPD or the City of South Bend,” said Mayor James Mueller in a statement. “Chief Ruszkowski and SBPD will continue to work with partnering agencies and will move immediately to place this officer on unpaid leave until the conclusion of the legal process.”
Email South Bend Tribune reporter Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@gannett.com.
