3 East Chicago school employees face charges for entering student's home to recover stolen items

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. - Three school officials at an East Chicago high school are facing charges after entering a student's home without permission to retrieve stolen items following an October football game.

According to court documents, three East Chicago Central High School students stole AirPods, Crocs, headphones, and a pair of Nike joggers from the visitors' locker room on Oct. 25, 2024.

Instead of contacting the police, however, court documents reveal that three school officials attempted to take matters into their own hands.

In mid-December, the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against East Chicago Central High School Principal Abrian Brown, Dean of Students Corey Bailey, and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach Alaa Mroueh.

They’ve each been charged with Residential Entry—a Level 6 felony in Indiana.

Court documents state that the staff members showed up to and entered a student's home around 11 p.m. the night of the football game, in an apparent attempt to recover the stolen items.

The student’s mother claims the men barged into her home while she was sleeping—that she was woken up to banging on the door, footsteps coming up the steps, and Mroueh in her kitchen yelling at her son. 

At the time, she said she had no idea what was going on.

Earlier that night, the East Chicago Central Cardinals’ football team hosted the Hanover Central Wildcats.

During the game, items from the visitors’ locker room were stolen. School administrators watched surveillance video showing the entrance to the locker room, and recognized three of their students as the offenders, according to court documents.

Instead of contacting the police, though, prosecutors said they went to one of the student’s homes after pinging a pair of stolen AirPods.

The student's mother told FOX 32 that the situation has been extremely upsetting. She acknowledged her son’s wrongdoing but felt that the administrators' unannounced entry into her home was inappropriate.

She called 911 to report the incident the following day; then, on Oct. 28, officers met with her to take the report.  

Also on Oct. 28, the woman met with those school officials to discuss the situation, and court documents state she recorded their conversation. She described it as: "Y'all came to my house like the mob."

In the audio, one of the administrators is heard saying: "We were just trying to avoid them from going to jail."

Per court documents, the officials claim they didn’t bang on her door – they knocked on it. Brown also told police that they did not break in, rather, "the door just opened."

As summarized in court documents, once the first of two doors opened—at the bottom of the stairs—Brown described the following to police:

"Brown stated that once the door opened, he observed a flight of stairs. Brown stated that at the top of the stairs, Witness 1 came out, paused, and then immediately went back in his apartment and left the apartment door open. Brown stated ‘we’ walked up the stairs, and further stated that they stood at the stairs in the hallway as Witness 1 started gathering the things."

Brown, Bailey, and Mroueh have not been arrested but have been issued summonses to appear in court, with an initial hearing scheduled for March 6.

In a statement posted to the school's website this week, a spokesperson wrote in part: "While the theft was an isolated incident, it was treated with utmost concern. Three East Chicago Central High School staff members were allegedly involved in retrieving stolen items from a student’s home. As a result, these staff members were immediately placed on administrative leave while we conducted a thorough review of the situation."

The School City of East Chicago (SCEC) District’s attorney confirmed to FOX 32 Chicago that the three staff members remain employed while on leave.

We also reached out to the attorney representing Brown, Bailey, and Mroueh to request comment, but did not yet receive a response.