Police Seek Help Identifying Church Theft Suspect

Warsaw Police Department is seeking the public's help in identifying the male subject in the photographs below.

Public Occurrences 1.29.2013

Public Occurrences 3-30-2013

Cemetery Theft

Editor, Times-Union:This is to the person who stole the angel chime from our daughter Lori Rigsby's grave at Oakwood Cemetery.

Apology To Family Express

Editor, Times-Union: To the establishment and staff of Family Express:

Garage Burns

BY KRISTA PRIMROSE, Times-Union Staff Writer Two vehicles stolen early this morning were found wrecked within Warsaw city limits today.Jeremy L.Morgan, 21, of 517 W.Pike St., Warsaw, was arrested for the crimes.He also was reportedly intoxicated at the time of the accidents, but he is preliminarily charged with auto theft only. A 1990 Pontiac, stolen from Melanie Marie Davis, North Washington Street, Warsaw, was found wrecked at 2:03 a.m.today. While investigating the car crash, a Warsaw police officer reportedly heard of a second crash, a truck wrecked near the intersection of Pike and Columbia streets, Warsaw. Both vehicles had been reported stolen. During an area search near the second accident, police found Morgan sitting in a parked car.Upon questioning him because of suspicious behavior, he gave police conflicting reports about his actions.Police searched him, and keys to one of the wrecked cars were found.

Thieves Hit Rice Ford

More than $100,000 in losses were reported in a Saturday evening burglary to a Warsaw car dealership. A cleaning crew discovered the break-in about 8:30 p.m.Saturday when they arrived at Rice Ford, West CR 250N, Warsaw.The glass was found broken out of a north door and the workers called police before going inside.When police arrived, a search of the building revealed no one else was on the premises. An owner of the dealership was summoned to the business, where it was discovered the new car key box was broken into and destroyed.An inventory of the vehicles on the lot determined three were missing: a 2001 white Ford Lincoln LS, valued at $40,380; a 2001 white F350 4X4 crew cab dually, valued at $36,985; and a 2001 green Eddie Bauer Expedition 4X4, valued at $41,411. Twenty sets of keys from other new vehicles also were taken and KEMRAD security service was brought in to watch the parking lot and prevent the theft of additional vehicles.

Public Occurrences 4.7.08

The following people were preliminarily charged and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail:

Extension Secretary Accused In Embezzlement

Officials claim a "significant amount" has been embezzled from the 4-H Council savings account and a county employee was arrested in the case. Betty Ann Davis, 49, of 207 S.Graceland St., Claypool, was a secretary for the Extension office prior to her arrest on Monday.She is being held in the Kosciusko County Jail on charges of forgery and theft.Her bond is set at $2,000. According to Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine, a county government member notified the police agency Monday of the possible embezzlement of funds. Davis was interviewed and reportedly admitted the wrongdoing.Subsequent investigation revealed that the misappropriation of funds may have been going on for as many as four years.

Fisher Seeks To Postpone Murder Trial; Charged In Death Of Milford Woman

Defense attorney Mike Miner on Wednesday filed a motion in Kosciusko Circuit Court to postpone the trial of Jason Fisher. Fisher, 22, of Millersburg, was scheduled to go on trial accused of the murder of Kathy Vroman, 48, of Milford.The seven-day trial was to begin Sept.13, with the first two days for jury selection only and five days set aside for testimony.Miner is Fisher's court-appointed attorney.The trial is tentatively rescheduled for early December, according to Kosciusko County Prosecutor Charles Waggoner.

Police Arrest Suspect In Wong's Armed Robbery

A Warsaw man has been charged in the Aug.3 robbery of Wong's Restaurant after he was arrested in an unrelated matter following a high speed chase Sunday evening. The Winona Lake Police Department initiated a chase Sunday after receiving a report of the theft of gas from a BP Station.The chase ended in a crash and Sean Lackey, 26, of 615 W.Center St., Warsaw, was arrested at 2:58 a.m.Sunday for fleeing/resisting law enforcement, refusal to submit to chemical testing, public intoxication and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.A juvenile in the car with Lackey was apprehended later and taken to the Winona Lake Police Department. During the course of the investigation of the Sunday morning incident, information led officers to call detectives working on the Wong's robbery case. Detectives then obtained more information that led to the recovery of the briefcase stolen from Wong's last week.

Bambi's Roofing Employee Sentenced In Embezzling

A former Bambi's Roofing Inc.employee was sentenced Monday in Kosciusko Superior Court 1 for embezzling more than $200,000 from her former employer. Christy Grogg, 42, of 3731 E.Ford Drive, Rochester, was sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, a Class C felony. A second charge, theft, a Class C felony, was dismissed through a plea agreement. Grogg, who worked in accounting for Bambi's, was suspected of embezzling in March 2003.At that time, company owner Ken Collins was notified of overdrawn bank accounts.Upon checking the business' check register, Collins learned of several unauthorized checks written to Grogg. Grogg reportedly forged the checks and deleted the records from the company computer. When confronted with the crime, Grogg admitted to it and said she had been doing it since June 2001, with the last check being cashed Feb.26, 2003. Grogg told police she had gambled all the money away at Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City and had none left.

Diving Boards Stolen

Warsaw police and park officials are miffed by the loss of two diving boards from community parks over the last five days. Saturday, park workers discovered a 14-foot fiberglass board was missing from Center Lake pier.Tuesday, the Warsaw Police Department received a call reporting that another diving board had been stolen from Pike Lake Park. Dive teams were assigned to search underneath both piers to determine whether the boards had been removed and dropped into the water, but both searches came up empty. According to police reports, WPD patrolmen were in Center Lake Park until 11 p.m.on the night that the first board was stolen.Over the last month, police activity increased inside the park to limit suspicious activity in the area. Park Department Administrator Jon Garber said he could not determine if the thefts were in retaliation to the additional police units supervising the park.

Waste District Funds Missing

Following an audit by the State Board of Accounts, approximately $27,000 was found missing from the Kosciusko County Solid Waste District's accounts in 1999 and 2000. The financial review is regularly scheduled once every two years, according to district chairman Joe Thallemer. At that time and since her appointment as director in September 1997, Marsha Eikenberry also served as the district's controller. State Board of Accounts representatives met with KCSWD directors and Kosciusko County commissioners Avis Gunter and Ron Truex, county councilman Maurice Beer, Winona Lake councilman Rolly Ortega and Warsaw city councilman Thallemer Wednesday in executive session an hour prior to the regular meeting. The accountants' preliminary findings reportedly show that unauthorized cashed checks, misuse of district property and unauthorized vacation days added to the district's loss. On first study no one other than Eikenberry is implicated in the theft.

Teen Runs From Police While Being Taken To Court

A Warsaw teenager being taken to court this morning reportedly escaped from authorities and ran from the Kosciusko County Justice Building. Phillip Oest, 15, of Sheridan Street, Warsaw, was captured about 1-1/2 hours later on Fort Wayne Street, about two blocks from the Kosciusko County Jail. Oest was brought back from the South Bend Juvenile Detention Center for a court hearing this morning, and he was being placed into a holding cell on the second floor of the Justice Building when he allegedly ran from the officer, down a stairwell and out a door that exits onto Main Street.The incident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. Among the charges Oest was scheduled to appear in court for today was auto theft from a March 11 incident in Warsaw.Oest reportedly took a truck belonging to Jeff E.Kindel and crashed it into a tree in the 1600 block of East Clark Street.Several stolen items were allegedly found inside the truck.Officials said Oest does not have a driver's license.

Public Occurrences 12.6.08

The following people were preliminarily charged and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail:

Public Occurrences 11.29.08

The following people were preliminarily charged and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail:

Gas Station Robber Sentenced to Four Years

One of the three men who robbed the McClure Gas Station in Silver Lake in April was sentenced Thursday in Kosciusko County Superior Court I.

Public Occurrences 2.7.2013

Shoplifting Leads to Discovery of Van Full of Meth, Arrests

An alleged shoplifting attempt by two teens led police to a van where they reportedly found a stash of finished meth and various precursors. Warsaw police were called Saturday to Walmart, 2501 Walton Blvd, where two teens were spotted by store security allegedly pocketing common items inside the store. Loss prevention employees also identified a third woman believed to be with the teens in the parking lot near a parked van, police said.