6 ways Courier & Press reporting made an impact in 2022
The Evansville Courier & Press celebrates its 178th birthday this month, having come a long way since its inception in 1845 as a four-page weekly, the Evansville Courier, founded by local attorney William Newton.
For every day in its history, the Courier & Press has sought to serve the greater good of Southwestern Indiana.
It's our job to hold people accountable, to shine a light on wrongdoing and to celebrate our neighbors' successes. We recognize the privilege and responsibility that come with our platform, and we hope to enhance community conversations and advocate for those whose voices may not otherwise be heard. We do this work because we care.
Here are just a few examples of how our reporting made a difference in the Tri-State in 2022.
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Examining a Warrick County judge's quiet resignation
In May, then-Warrick County Superior Court Judge Zach Winsett announced his resignation, citing "new opportunities" and "family and other obligations that require my added attention." And with that, Winsett walked away at age 46 from a state job that paid nearly $180,000 annually, including $20,000 contributed by Warrick County.
Three months later, a state agency that investigates accusations of judicial ethical misconduct sent a letter to a female lawyer who had formally accused the judge of unwanted and forced sexual touching. The letter said her formal complaint had been "resolved with the resignation of Judge Winsett." In a special prosecutor's report, Winsett denied using force. No criminal charges resulted.
The public had not been informed of any of this until the Courier & Press reported it on Sept. 12.
Why? Because, as the Courier & Press reported, state law and the Indiana Constitution enable secrecy in the discipline of judges in the state. Indiana's Access to Public Records Act lists public records declared confidential by the state Supreme Court among those which may not be disclosed by a public agency. And Supreme Court rules allow the constitutionally created Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications to keep investigations of judges confidential.
Later in September, the Courier & Press followed up by reporting the accounts of three women who had interactions with Winsett while he was a member of the bench, including the lawyer whose formal complaint about the judge’s behavior ended with his resignation.
Investigation into prosecutor's behavior, office finances
Prosecutor Nick Hermann surprised many in 2022 by forging ahead with a re-election campaign despite what some considered crippling political problems. The Courier & Press went well beyond what had already been reported about those issues and others.
The county and state settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against Hermann in August 2021 by paying former prosecutor's office employee Samantha Merideth $75,000 without admitting wrongdoing. Merideth alleged Hermann handcuffed her, displayed a gun, made unwanted sexual advances and threw her over his shoulder to prevent her from leaving when they were in a hotel room alone together at a 2013 conference in Chicago — claims he denied.
In January the Courier & Press obtained key depositions in the lawsuit, reporting details that likely would not have become public otherwise. Regene Newman, then a top aide to Hermann, said under oath she believed Merideth’s claims. The Courier & Press also reported Hermann’s side of the story in greater detail than the prosecutor had ever provided publicly. In his deposition testimony, Hermann called the encounter with Merideth a social outing over drinks with a friend that went sideways when she asked if he was attracted to her and he said no.
In March the Courier & Press reported that the prosecutor's office used official credit cards in 2020 and 2021 to purchase such items as gourmet strawberries, women's lingerie and more than $10,000 in meals for staff. The newspaper also reported Hermann's office gave at least $25,000 in forfeiture money to a private nonprofit he runs, and he declined to provide records showing what the group did with the money.
Hermann lost his grip on the prosecutor’s office on May 3, when he fell in a Republican primary election to Diana Moers. It was the first time the GOP hadn’t nominated Hermann for prosecutor in 20 years.
Class-action lawsuit follows reporting on ABK practices
A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses privately owned company ABK Tracking, Vanderburgh County and Circuit Court Judge David Kiely of conspiring to "extort" money from poor residents.
The lawsuit accuses Kiely of giving ABK’s owner, Danny Koester, who he is friends with, exclusive control over electronic monitoring and drug/alcohol testing for both pretrial and sentenced defendants. ABK has an exclusive, no-bid deal with Kiely, who oversees the county’s probation department.
The issues were brought to light in a series of Courier & Press articles that were cited in the lawsuit. The Courier & Press published an investigation into how the arrangement between ABK and the courts led to probation violations and jail time for those unable to pay the high cost of their fees.
Attorneys in the lawsuit against ABK have filed a motion in federal court asking a judge to stop ABK's collection of fees until the lawsuit is resolved.
Public school USI moves to Division I, but keeps some details secret
In a decision that was 57 years in the making, the University of Southern Indiana’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously last February to make the transition to NCAA Division I athletics. There was much more to the process than a public vote — and public records requests by the Courier & Press helped shine light onto the behind-the-scenes logistics.
USI’s trustees held a pair of executive sessions to mull over the decision last January. A media notice for one of them listed the location only as "off campus in Evansville, IN." The Courier & Press notified USI officials and the Office of the Public Access Counselor that a more specific location was needed to meet the standards of Indiana's Open Door Laws. A new notice was then sent to media with the specific location of the meeting.
A later (and heavily redacted) response to a request for contracts between the school and Ohio Valley Conference led to Indiana's Public Access Counselor saying school officials should revisit their decision to redact many of the details of its contract with the league.
The Courier & Press also used public records to learn much of the men’s basketball schedule before it was made official. That included an interesting wrinkle to keep in mind: If the Screaming Eagles finish above .500 this season, they’ll receive a postseason invitation to the College Basketball Invitational.
Couple's sunroom complaint leads to slew of fraud charges against home improvement company CEO
In January, the Courier & Press received an email from a Newburgh couple who said they'd spent tens of thousands of dollars with a local construction contractor on a sunroom for their home.
The problem, they said, was this: The money was gone, and the sunroom had never been built. And the contractor, a man named Matthew Gates, wasn't returning their calls.
The Courier & Press began examining Gates' past business practices and found a trail of questionable acts. Gates' company, Elite Construction Systems, has now been charged with felony home improvement fraud in Warrick County. Courier & Press research shows Gates has led a series of businesses under variations of that name in at least two states since 2009, and despite a number of criminal and civil complaints against him, continued to operate out of an office on East Morgan Avenue in Evansville.
After the initial Courier & Press reporting, other people came forward with allegations, and local prosecutors took notice.
In addition to being charged with felony theft and home improvement fraud in Vanderburgh, Gibson, Warrick and Posey counties in Indiana and in Daviess County, Kentucky, Gates is also knee-deep in a bankruptcy proceeding.
County Council attorney arrested, but never charged
Evansville police arrested Vanderburgh County Council attorney Jeff Ahlers just after midnight June 26 on suspicion of drunken driving, only to see then-Prosecutor Nick Hermann decline to file charges against the veteran lawyer.
The Courier & Press reported then-Sheriff Dave Wedding removed Ahlers' mugshot and charge information from his jail's website within hours of the arrest. The Evansville Police Department said it stood by its decision to arrest Ahlers.
For months after the arrest, the Courier & Press doggedly pursued the story, reporting that body camera and Evansville Police Department car dashboard video footage showed police on the scene thought Ahlers was “super-intoxicated.”
After reportedly failing multiple field sobriety tests, Ahlers arrived at the jail about 76 minutes after the initial traffic stop, the EPD transport van being delayed by a call to pick up more arrestees elsewhere. The video showed that at the jail Ahlers repeatedly argued for a process that would result in further delays: a blood-drawn alcohol test for which he would have to be taken to a hospital.
Ahlers' blood-alcohol level ultimately was found to be 0.077 percent − just under Indiana's legal limit of 0.08 percent. But local defense attorneys and Evansville police cited other recent arrests in which people who tested lower than 0.08 were still charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: 6 ways Courier & Press reporting made an impact in 2022
