Indiana Supreme Court overturns ex-Wabash Township Trustee Teising's convictions

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court overturned former Wabash Township Trustee Jennifer Teising's criminal theft convictions and sentence in an opinion published Thursday.

The Indiana Supreme Court did not address whether Teising resided in the township, as required by law, after she sold her house, bought a travel trailer and lived in it while claiming her ex-boyfriend's house on Knox Drive as her legal residence.

Instead, the opinion focused on whether Teising believed she stopped residing in the township and forfeited her office.

"Teising maintained she was complying with the requirements of her office while working remotely," the court's ruling states.

Teising claimed she did not forfeit her office because her residence was on Knox Drive, even when she lived for months at a time in Anderson or in Florida. She continued to remotely do the job of trustee. Therefore, in her mind, she did not forfeit her office, the court ruled.

A Journal & Courier investigation published on Dec. 22, 2020, found Teising living in her trailer in Panama City Beach, Florida, not at the Knox Drive residence she claimed as her legal residence.

A grand jury indicted Teising in May 2021 on 21 counts of theft for collecting her paycheck while living outside of the township.

A bench trial in December 2021 and subsequent verdict in January 2022 indicated that Teising was guilty. However, she's been free on bond for her appeal since her conviction.

But the Indiana Supreme Court disagreed with the verdict and sentence because no evidence presented during trial indicated that Teising knew she was breaking the law. In fact, the trial indicates she thought she was abiding by the law.

The Indiana Supreme Court's decision Thursday does not interpret the question of Teising's legal residency. Rather, it based its decision on whether Teising thought she was stealing her paycheck by claiming the Knox Drive home in West Lafayette as her residence while living somewhere else.

"(F)or example, a car dealer cannot be convicted of theft if they do not realize the car they are selling was stolen, or someone else had a superior title for whatever reason," the Supreme Court's opinion states.

"There is no evidence Teising believed she was no longer entitled to continue collecting her salary for the work she kept performing remotely," the opinion states. "The trial court's findings of fact and conclusions of law do not conclude she believed the money she collected wasn't hers."

If prosecutors believe Teising forfeited her office by living in her trailer for months on end as it was parked outside of the township, they could have corrected the wayward trustee by removing her from office by filing a civil case called a quo warranto.

They didn't, opting instead for the grand jury and criminal indictments, all of which were overturned Thursday.

The Journal & Courier called Karen Celestino-Horseman, Teising's attorney, asking for comment. She has not yet returned the call.

After the December 2022 Indiana Appeals Court verdict overturned Teising's conviction and sentence, Teising said, "I am vindicated."

The State, however, appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.

The Indiana Supreme Court vacated the Appeals Court ruling.

The end result of both the Supreme and Appeals courts' rulings, however, is the same: Teising is not guilty.

The Supreme Court held oral arguments on Teising's case in late June, and took the next eight months deciding whether to accept the case and write its opinion.

The Journal & Courier reached out to Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington asking for his comment on the ruling. The J&C also asked if a quo warranto case was the remedy, why did his office not bring the civil case.

Harrington did not comment on the Supreme Court's ruling filing quo warranto case.

"We used the State v Charles White as the blueprint for our case," Harrington said, "as that case has so many fact in common, which included a person moving outside of the town they represented then continued to take the salary.

"He was convicted. There are starking similarities," Harrington said.

In White's case, he was a Fishers Town Council member and moved outside of the town. He never resigned from the town council until he was caught living outside of his district. However, White continued to collect his paycheck.

White was convicted in February 2012, and like Teising, he appealed the verdict. However, most of his convictions were upheld.

"I appreciate the amount of time the Supreme Court took considering the merits of this case before issuing their decision," Harrington said.

Teising stepped away from the trustee's office in January 2022 after her conviction.

Angel Valentín succeeded Teising as trustee.

"Over the course of the last three years, our team has respected and placed its utmost faith in our state's legal and legislative processes," Valentín said. "We are appreciative of the Indiana Supreme Court's review of the facts and the laws in this case.

"It is my hope that the state legislature will clarify the definition of residency for elected officials to ensure that our communities are best served by those in whom we've placed our public trust," Valentín said.

"As for our township, we will continue to move forward as we have over the last two years, diligently working to address many of the concerns that came into public focus during my predecessor's term in office," he said.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Supreme Court overturns convictions of ex-Trustee Jennifer Teising