The 16-year veteran has been placed on desk duty

PERU, Ind. — Court documents reveal an Indiana State trooper admitted to grabbing a female coworker by the back of her head and forcing her face toward his groin while telling her, “here’s a way for you to earn the money.”

Master Trooper Michael Meiser, 43, faces a misdemeanor charge of battery for his actions. State police said Meiser is a 16-year veteran.

According to court documents, the incident occurred on March 20 during firearms training at the Indiana State Police’s firearms range in Peru. During the instructor-only training session, Meiser reportedly walked up closely behind a female state trooper and sniffed her from “within inches.” He denied sniffing her, reportedly, despite another instructor observing the incident.

The female trooper later said she had been “creeped out” and made to feel uncomfortable and annoyed by what he’d done. But it was not the end of Meiser’s misbehavior.

According to the documents, sometime later Meiser was standing near a shed on the range. When his coworker approached Meiser reportedly dropped money to the ground and when she bent down to pick it up for him Meiser grabbed her by her head and forced her head toward his groin and thrust his groin at her. As he did this, Meiser reportedly told her, “here’s a way for you to earn the money.”

His coworker told the investigating officers that she was humiliated, embarrassed and degraded by Meiser’s actions. Actions that were witnessed by other instructors who were at the range and corroborated her account.

Police spoke to Meiser on April 27, according to the court documents, where the state trooper said his coworkers’ statements on the shooting range incident were true and accurate. Meiser even reportedly agreed that his actions were battery as defined by state law.

State police announced Meiser was arrested on a battery charge on Thursday but bonded out of jail the same day. He has since been placed on administrative duties until the completion of his criminal case and the internal investigation.



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