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Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney E. Nelson Chipman announced Tuesday afternoon that his office’s involvement in the cases regarding former Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine, former college professor Mark Soto and convicted felon Kevin Bronson is over.
He also revealed that Soto’s felony convictions by a jury trial were upheld Monday by the Court of Appeals, and that Rovenstine’s request to reduce his conviction from a Class D felony to Class A misdemeanor was denied Friday.
Chipman was appointed special prosecutor for Kosciusko County in 2015. He empaneled a grand jury that handed down the indictments in the case.
He emphasized that the three men indicted by a grand jury in January 2016 have felony convictions and are serving or have completed their sentences.
“Former Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine has served his sentence and was successfully discharged from probation after Special Judge Steve Bowers rejected on Friday, Sept. 28 Rovenstine’s request for alternate misdemeanor sentencing. Kevin Bronson is currently serving his sentence in the Indiana Department of Corrections after violating community corrections. And former college professor Mark Soto continues to serve his sentence following jury verdicts of guilt that were affirmed by the Indiana Court of Appeals in its decision announced this past Monday, Oct. 1,” Chipman is quoted as saying in the release.
He said a fourth case is awaiting a decision by a different special prosecutor appointed to review the matter. This morning, Chipman said he was not involved in the fourth case. “I know the basis but I can’t go beyond that,” he said.
Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton said Chipman is likely referring to information that came out of the grand jury and a special prosecutor was appointed to it at least a year ago. Once a special prosecutor has been appointed to a case, Hampton said he’s disengaged from it.
The additional information for the fourth case came from the Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office around May 2017. Since they would be a witness, Hampton had to find another special prosecutor and Whitley County Prosecutor D.J. Sigler Jr. was appointed by Kosciusko County Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed, according to an April 28, 2017, order.
As evidence stems from the grand jury investigation, Sigler cannot comment on the merits of the case, Hampton said.
Soto was working with Bronson to make a movie about Bronson’s life, according to court documents and previous published reports. Warsaw Police Officer Paul Heaton began an investigation into Bronson and Soto’s fundraising activities. An indictment alleged Bronson and Soto used threats to extort money to finance the movie and operate Bronson’s Warsaw martial arts gym, Young Dragon Enterprises.
Court documents alleged Heaton and Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker discovered Rovenstine was allowing Soto and Bronson to meet unmonitored in the jail. The indictment alleged Rovenstine agreed to accept $40,000 to allow the unmonitored calls and provide other special privileges to Bronson. During a confrontation over Bronson, Rovenstine allegedly threatened Heaton.
On April 5, 2017, Rovenstine pleaded guilty to felony intimidation of Heaton. On May 23, 2017, he was sentenced to one year suspended for Class D felony intimidation and eight other felony charges were dismissed.
Soto’s trial began in late July 2017. He was convicted on two counts of corrupt business influence, level 5 felonies, and one count of intimidation, a Class D felony, on Aug. 8. He had faced six charges, but was acquitted of two counts of intimidation and one count of corrupt business influence. He was sentenced to three years on home detention and three years on probation, according to a previous Times-Union story.
In May, Rovenstine’s attorneys filed a motion for alternate misdemeanor sentencing, to which the state filed an objection, according to Tuesday’s news release.
The matter was set for a July 5 hearing. On May 21, the Kosciusko County Probation Department filed its request to discharge Rovenstine as having successfully completed the terms of his probation, including community service time.
The only term of Rovenstine’s sentence pending was completion of the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in Elkhart County requiring the participation of Rovenstine and Heaton. The completion of that term of Rovenstine’s sentence was still pending at the time of the July 5 hearing.
The release states that “In the interest of judicial economy, the parties agreed to hold the July 5 hearing by presenting evidence and making arguments” to Bowers. He held his decision under advisement until the VORP process was completed. On Sept. 24 VORP filed its final report.
On Sept. 26, Rovenstine’s lawyers – James Voyles and Jennifer Lukemeyer – filed their motion for a ruling on the previously filed petition for alternate misdemeanor sentencing.
On Friday, Bowers issued an 11-page opinion denying the alternative misdemeanor sentencing.
In part, the opinion states that when Rovenstine was originally sentenced, the Court “felt strongly that reduction of the offense to a Class A misdemeanor would have depreciated the seriousness of the offense.”
It states that one of the key considerations for the court at the time of sentencing was the personal impact of a felony conviction on Rovenstine’s reputation. Rovenstine was disqualified from his position as the elected sheriff of Kosciusko County as a result of his conviction.
Another “significant concern” for the court was that Rovenstine would be eligible to seek expungement of his conviction if his offense was reduced to a Class A misdemeanor.
Bowers’ opinion also states, “This Court is unwilling to reduce Defendant’s conviction to a misdemeanor if doing so would allow him to ever again run for political office in the State of Indiana. The Court is similarly unwilling to reduce the defendant’s conviction to a misdemeanor if doing so would potentially lead to the expungement of any conviction record in this case. Only if these impediments were removed and all the requirements of Indiana Code 35-50-2-7 were met would the Court consider reduction of the conviction to a Class A misdemeanor.”
