A former East Chicago Police patrol commander will serve double the sentence he was originally slated to serve for distributing cocaine after a federal judge, in what some called a “rare move,” went above the sentencing guidelines outlined in a plea agreement.
U.S. District Court Judge Gretchen Lund on Thursday sentenced Louis Arcuri Jr. to 36 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Arcuri, 55 of Portage, admitted on April 23 to the distribution of a quantity of cocaine in the U.S. District Court in Hammond and entered into a plea agreement on May 14 with sentencing guidelines between 12 and 18 months.
Arcuri has been in federal custody at the Porter County Jail since Feb. 29.
Arcuri’s attorney, John Cantrell, told the court that having grown up in East Chicago, he saw how the gangs grew increasingly violent as the years went on. Arcuri, who served in the military before joining the East Chicago Police Department in 1991, became “the most aggressive cop” he’d ever seen, he said.
“He was the one who’d jump on the hood of a car to stop it,” Cantrell said. “He wrecked six squads and did a lot of damage to his body because there was no gray area for him. He would arrest anyone accused of the same things he did.”
The toll the methods took on Arcuri’s body led him to Vicodin addiction, Cantrell added, which is what caused him to “ruin his legacy.” He asked Lund to sentence Arcuri to 12 months and a day, with six of those months served in supervised release.
Apologizing to the court, Arcuri said that he “would’ve arrested himself.”
“I never thought I’d be on the other side of the fence,” he said. “I believe I’m a good person, and I’ve found my path through Christ.”
Lund then asked Arcuri why, when he was questioned in the June 12, 2021 death of his girlfriend, referred to in court as A.G., he told police he “gave her aspirin.” Arcuri said it was because “he was outside himself” in his addiction.
Lund, who said she served in drug court for a time, replied that in most of the cases she’d tried during that period, the defendants didn’t become dealers and asked him why he did instead of seeking help for his addiction. When Arcuri said he “thought he could handle it,” and stammered trying to explain, Lund said she was “having a hard time finding that nexus.”
Deputy U.S Attorney David Nozick said Cantrell’s narrative of Arcuri being a “super cop” was untrue.
“Don’t misunderstand: This is not a good cop who was having a hard time. This was a corrupt cop who’s been corrupt, the commander of the police department who distributed cocaine to the woman he was involved with,” Nozick said. “This was a predator with a badge.”
Lund then walked through the timeline of A.G.’s death: Arcuri and A.G. texted each other that they were going to meet after she got off work from the car wash at which she was employed. Arcuri brought with him a bag containing approximately 2 grams of cocaine, Lund said.
After midnight, A.G. texted Arcuri that she wasn’t feeling well, Lund said, to which he asked her if she “needed some chorizo.” He later texted asking her if she was feeling better, to which she replied, “I wish.”
At 1:46 am, she texted him that she was “dizzy and couldn’t see straight”; at 1:48 am, Arcuri told her to “Get better” and that he would “see her next week, I guess,” Lund said.
A.G.’s body was found the afternoon of June 12 at Wihala Beach, her “favorite place,” Lund said. A coroner report said she died of “asphyxiation from drowning”; fentanyl was found in her system.
Because it could not be proven that Arcuri gave her the fentanyl, he wasn’t charged with her death.
Lund said that police officers take an oath to “never betray the public trust”: specifically, they are to “uphold state and federal constitutions” and that they are to “self-report and are bound to report others” when they act outside the law. Arcuri, Lund said, did “none of those things.”
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter (how good of an officer Arcuri was) because Louis Arcuri is a drug dealer,” she said. “You violated your oath, and you’ve denigrated your fellow officers. This is a serious crime that deserves a serious sentence.”
The sentencing guideline for cocaine distribution is up to 20 years, Lund added.
A.G.’s mother, Veronica Riley, said during her statement to the court that Arcuri “made a mockery of justice” and that his gross misconduct “has inflicted unspeakable pain.”
“May your days be as long as mine are, and may you lose your taste for things as I have,” she said. “No one is above the law.”
Paul Rossi, who’ll represent Riley when she files suit against the East Chicago Police Department, said he was shocked that Lund went above the sentencing guidelines.
“I’ve been in practice for 24 years, and I’ve seen that happen one other time,” he said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
