Wabash Township still trying to get property back from ex-trustee

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Board members believe former Trustee Jennifer Teising still has property owned by Wabash Township – three weeks after leaving office as a convicted thief.

“We’re still missing a few pieces of equipment," new Trustee Angel ValentÍn said during Tuesday's board meeting in response to a question from board member David Tate.

“There is a phone unaccounted for," ValentÍn said. "The one that Mr. Ward used to have from the department. Additionally, his radio is unaccounted for, and his pager, as well.

“That’s over $7,000 of equipment of those three pieces — on the conservative side.”

The Journal & Courier left a voicemail for Teising at the last phone number it had on file for her. She did not respond.

Because some of the volunteer firefighters left after Teising fired the paid firefighters in June, there were extra radios, Fire Chief Ed Ward said.

So he and the other three paid firefighters had radios when they returned to work on Monday.

"Unfortunately, because my radio has law enforcement channels on it — we had to have that radio disabled. So we had to pay for that,” Ward said during Tuesday's board meeting.

“It’s more of a thorn in the side," Ward said. "We’ve got the equipment; we’ve got the ability to do the job still.

"It’s just one of those things that would have simplified the process.”

There are some office keys still missing, and the township has changed some of the locks, ValentÍn said.

Additionally, there are missing keys to a bank safety deposit box where the titles to the township's vehicles are kept. If the township has to replace those, it will be $130 for each missing key, Valentín said.

Board member Brendan Betz asked if it might be worth pursuing Teising for the equipment and the cost for what's missing, for changing the locks and for new safety deposit keys.

Betz suggested his comment to pursue recovering the cost is a conversation for another day.

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

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Wabash Township trying to get property back from former trustee