Goshen School Board mailer defendants appear in court

May 22—GOSHEN — On Wednesday, Roger Nafziger, Jose Elizalde, Mario Garber, and Andrea Johnson met with each individually with Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Teresa Cataldo for status conferences.

The group is each charged with filing a fraudulent report, a Level 6 felony, and accepting a contribution made in another's name, a Class B misdemeanor, after allegedly filing fraudulent campaign finance reports during the 2022 Goshen School Board elections.

A fifth defendant, Allan Kauffman, has the same charges but has five counts of the Class B misdemeanor instead of just one.

Garber, Nafziger and Elizalde are current sitting board members. Kauffman resigned from the board Feb. 26, citing health concerns. Keith Goodman was voted in as his replacement in late March.

The charges stem from the 2022 school board election. Contributions were reportedly gathered and distributed to candidates to help pay for a mailer against three other candidates on Oct. 29 Elkhart Township at a cost of $11,770.

During an Elkhart County Election Board hearing on April 27, Allan Kauffman, who also happened to be Elizalde's campaign chairman, said he was approached by a retired school teacher because of concerns she had about 2022 Primary Election school board candidates Rob Roeder, Ryan Glick and Linda Hartman.

The teacher was concerned about the future of local education should Purple for Parents-endorsed candidates Rob Roeder, Ryan Glick, and Linda Hartman gain elected office. At the time, Kauffman said the teacher wished to remain anonymous to prevent backlash of her husband's business. The teacher gathered the funds and Kauffman distributed them between the four election candidates, whose campaign finance committees paid Maple Leaf Printing for the cost of the mailer. They listed Kauffman as the donor on campaign finance forms, which the election board later discovered was technically untrue. Per election law, any person who donates more than $100 toward a campaign should be listed on finance forms.

The Elkhart County Election Board found that the retired school teacher, Sue Neeb, had collected funds from a total of 32 individuals and, while she did keep some records, election law dictates that donors offer name, address, occupation, date, and dollar amount for all donations — and Neeb did not collect all of the necessary information.

On Wednesday, Nafziger's trial was reset from June 10 to Aug. 5, with a pretrial conference scheduled for July 24. Johnson's trial, also scheduled for June 10, was canceled pending a status conference on July 24. Garber's and Elizalde's pretrial conferences for June 26 and jury trials of July 8 were confirmed.

On Wednesday, Kauffman, through his attorney, filed a motion to vacate his hearing. His pretrial conference is June 26, and his jury trial is scheduled for July 8.

MARISSA MEYER

A substitute teacher who brought a firearm to school by accident had her first day in court for the felony charge on Wednesday.

Marissa Meyer, 40, of Elkhart, had an initial hearing in Elkhart County Circuit Court 3 with Judge Teresa Cataldo on Wednesday.

According a probable cause affidavit, police were notified Tuesday morning, May 14, that Meyer had brought a gun to Mary Beck Elementary School, 818 McDonald St.

The school's assistant principal was informed that second-grade substitute teacher Meyer was in possession of a gun. He told the school's resource officer, and the two of them went to the classroom. Meyer confirmed to them that she had a gun in her backpack on a chair by the teacher's desk, the affidavit reads.

The gun was unloaded, but the magazine had eight rounds and was also in the backpack, along with an empty gun holster, the probable cause affidavit reads. Meyer allegedly told the resource officer the gun must have fallen out of it.

Meyer reportedly told the resource officer that the reason she had the gun was because on Sunday, she'd lost the key fob that starts her vehicle while at a baseball game in South Bend and had to leave the vehicle there. She had removed several items from the vehicle and put them into her backpack, including the gun, and forgot it was still in the backpack until she'd already arrived at school, the affidavit reads. A system check confirmed that Meyer does have a gun permit and the gun was not stolen. Meyer was arrested and booked into the Elkhart County Jail on a charge of possession of a firearm on school property, a Level 6 felony.

Meyer's pretrial conference is scheduled for June 19, with trial status conference Sept. 4, and her jury trial scheduled for Sept. 30.

REBECCA A. CREAGER

A grandmother was sentenced to two years probation via plea bargain after her grandchildren were found in the front yard without supervision.

Rebecca A. Creager, 54, is charged with three counts of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony; possession of marijuana, and possession of paraphernalia with priors from the incident dating back to May 30, 2023.

An Elkhart County deputy said he was driving on York Hills Drive in Middlebury when he saw two small children in the front yard of a home unsupervised with the front door wide open and two dogs running loose. Walking up to the children, neither of whom could speak yet, he found that the younger one had a very saggy diaper and what he believed to be fecal matter all over his arms, hands, legs and face, and was digging into his diaper as if it was irritating him. The other child, he also noted, was quite dirty and had fecal matter running down his leg.

When officers entered the home, they found the father's mother, Creager, sleeping in bed next to another child. She told police she didn't know the kids were outside but didn't seem to find it very concerning, police said. Another officer found marijuana on the bedroom dresser and police got a search warrant.

With the search warrant, officers inspected the home and found it to be full of clutter, old food, and heavy layers of dust, marijuana joints and smoking bowls throughout the home, and toilets clogged with toys and bathroom essentials.

When parents Kyle Delaney and Katelynn Clark got home, Delaney reportedly told police that they'd left to go kayaking the night before, and that he allegedly didn't know there was marijuana, which he claimed to be his mom's, accessible to the kids, and said the home isn't always as messy as it was that day, but said he was generally not comfortable with the condition of the home. Clark reportedly said she was aware of the Creagers' and also Delaney's marijuana usage in the home.

Creager, Clark, and Delaney were all charged with neglect of a dependent. The children were sent to the same foster home they were sent the last time they were removed from parental custody.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.