4This is not a bash-the-police book. Cops have an extremely difficult and dangerous job made so much harder by lopsided social media reporting and constant public and political scrutiny. For the most part, law enforcement employees are extremely ethical and dedicated to correctly protecting and serving the public. Methods of evidence gathering and examination are better than ever before; and through the physical, social, and psychological sciences, investigators are usually able to catch and convict the bad guys. But sometimes, for whatever reason, they get it wrong. This was one of those cases.

Cleared by Arrest is the story of Vera Gardner as she told it to the author. It's about how the Indiana State Police turned on a twenty-three-year veteran civilian employee with an exemplary record when fifty thousand dollars went missing from evidence. It's the story of how a fifty-four-year-old grandmother with multiple sclerosis and terminal cancer was accused of stealing that money so she and her husband could live it up one last time before her death. It's the story of sacrificing a civilian employee rather than risk the scandal and embarrassment of exposing an unsecure system of housing evidences and possible prosecution of a law enforcement officer. It's the story of how the justice system gets it wrong. It's the story of the little guy against the machine of the state.

Cleared by Arrest is the story of an American injustice.