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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA northern Indiana sheriff pleaded guilty to an intimidation charge as his trial on bribery and other counts was about to begin.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine accepted a plea agreement Wednesday with prosecutors under which nine other charges will be dropped.
The judge scheduled a May 23 sentencing hearing. Rovenstine pleaded guilty to a level 6 felony charge that's punishable by up to 2-1/2 years in prison, but the judge could reduce it to a misdemeanor conviction.
Rovenstine was indicted last year on charges of accepting $40,000 to allow special privileges for a jail inmate and a visitor, including permitting unrecorded phone calls meant to hinder punishment of the inmate. The Republican sheriff was accused of intimidating a Warsaw police detective who became suspicious of Rovenstine's activities.
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