New judge appointed to hear Indiana sheriff’s bribery case

  • Print

A northern Indiana sheriff facing bribery and official misconduct charges will have a new judge overseeing his trial.

Court records show Elkhart Superior Court Judge Stephen Bowers has been appointed to hear Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine's case.

WANE-TV reports Bowers was appointed after fellow Elkhart Superior Court Judge Evan Roberts relinquished his duties as a special judge due to illness.

Rovenstine was indicted last year on 10 felony counts alleging that he accepted $40,000 to allow special privileges for a jail inmate and a visitor, including allowing unrecorded phone calls meant to hinder punishment of the inmate.

The Republican sheriff also is accused of intimidating a Warsaw police detective who was suspicions of Rovenstine's activities.

Rovenstine's trial is scheduled to begin April 3.

Please enable JavaScript to view this content.

{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining
{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining Article limit resets on
{{ count_down }}