A special prosecutor announced Monday that he would not file charges against a Porter County elected official stemming from an August incident, but community members and a county council member are concerned that it reflects badly on the community.
Indiana State Police’s Lowell Post and a special prosecutor from Tippecanoe County stepped in to investigate the matter after receiving the case from the Valparaiso Police Department.
The official has not been named by officials who investigated the situation and is not being named by the Post-Tribune because they were not charged. Investigating officials also have not said what the nature of the police call to the official’s Valparaiso home was about.
At Tuesday’s Porter County Council meeting, two attendees asked the council to tackle the matter financially since the council will be setting the county’s 2025 budget in the coming weeks and approving funding requests from department heads and elected officials.
Susie Talevski of Valparaiso encouraged the council to use the power of the purse during its budgeting process, which is underway for 2025.
“The taxpayers pay to be protected by law enforcement officials,” Talevski said. “I don’t think most of you or any of you would tolerate violence.”
Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, doesn’t, getting personal with his family’s history of domestic violence.
“I’m not comfortable with what I know so far,” he said of the allegations involving the official, adding that he didn’t want to go down that path.
“I would like you to take us down that path,” shouted Valparaiso resident JoAnn Mosby from the audience.
Rivas said it was his understanding from conversations with the Porter County Sheriff’s Office that domestic violence is the second-leading cause of police call-outs for the department.
“If there’s (an official) that can’t properly do their job I think this will be our opportunity for us to fund or not to fund,” he said.
Rivas said his wife’s biological father murdered her mother when she was 2 years old. “And she was there,” he added. “And it’s not something you turn away from. We were elected to have a voice and I’m going to use it.”
According to the Monday release from state police, on Aug. 21, the Valparaiso Police Department requested the Indiana State Police Criminal Investigations Division at the Lowell Post “conduct an independent investigation into an allegation that involved an elected … official in Porter County.”
Special Prosecutor John Meyers of Tippecanoe County was assigned to the case on Aug. 26 and, according to the release, state police concluded its investigation and turned it over to Meyers on Aug. 29 for his review.
Meyers said in a filing in Porter Superior Court that he reviewed a state police report on the matter and that the state police investigation included an incident described in a report by Valparaiso Police.
Meyers, in the court filing, said he reviewed the reports and discussed the matter with the state police detective assigned to investigate.
“Some further investigation was done, and more materials were provided. I also discussed the matter with one of the persons involved and the counsel for another. The investigation was thorough, and I am satisfied that the investigation is sufficiently completed for a decision to be made,” Meyers said in the filing.
“My conclusion is that criminal charges would not be appropriate, and none will be filed. No further action is contemplated, and this case may be closed.”
The Post-Tribune filed an Access to Public Records Act request for the Valparaiso Police Department report on the incident but Patrick Lyp, the city’s attorney, said that under the state’s open records laws, the police department has the right to use discretion when it releases reports.
Lyp, citing case law from the state’s public access counselor in an email, said police could withhold incident reports when releasing them would interfere with an investigation; jeopardize an expectation of privacy of a victim, witness or identified individual; or compromise public safety generally.
“In this matter, disclosure of the Report would jeopardize the reasonable expectation of privacy of the individuals involved,” Lyp said in the email. “Disclosure might also impact public safety to the extent anyone might reasonably conclude that seeking the assistance of law enforcement will result in a subsequent public airing of the facts that created the need for law enforcement.”
The Post-Tribune also has filed a records request for the state police report. The agency confirmed it received the request but has not yet responded about whether it will release the report.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.