Former Wabash Twp. trustee sues for $820K in backpay, damage to her reputation

Jennifer Teising follows through on legal threat, sues township over what she calls a ‘false narrative’ after a conviction that drove her from office was overturned

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FORMER WABASH TWP. TRUSTEE SUES FOR $820K IN BACKPAY, DAMAGE TO HER REPUTATION

Jennifer Teising, forced from office as Wabash Township trustee in 2022 when she was convicted on 21 felony counts of theft tied to questions about her residency, is suing township officials for more than $800,000 in backpay and damages, accusing them of defamation and wrongly spreading a narrative that she’d abandoned her elected office by moving away.

Convicted in January 2022 after a three-day bench trial, Teising claimed vindication when the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled later that year that the trial court got it wrong and that prosecutors hadn’t made their case. The Indiana Supreme Court backed that up in a February 2024 ruling, saying that if there were reasons Teising should have been booted from office, the prosecution hadn’t presented it.

In a complaint filed June 17 in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, Teising laid out her own narrative, detailing what she characterized as deliberate attempts to track her movements, sharing those with media and conspiring to get rid of her in ways that drew protesters to an address she had in West Lafayette and other moments in “a malicious effort to humiliate” her.

Jennifer Teising leaves court during her 2021 trial. (Photo: Dave Bangert)