Supreme Court vacates theft conviction of Jennifer Teising, former Wabash Twp. trustee

Court rules that criminal charges weren’t warranted as way to oust former Wabash Township trustee. Plus, Neuhoff radio stations sold. West Lafayette studies development impact fees for parks

• Today’s edition is sponsored by the West Lafayette Public Library Foundation. A public Sneak Peek fundraiser for the restored 1903 Grand View Cottage in West Lafayette's Grand View Cemetery will be held from 2-4:30 p.m. Feb. 24. Tickets are $10/person (under 12 free) and can be reserved by sending an email to info@wlplf.org with "Public Tour" in the subject line. The West Lafayette Public Library will open its West Lafayette history center there in late March with exhibits planned from its history archives and from other local resources.  For more information about the Cottage, visit wlaf.lib.in.us/grandviewcottage.

---

Supreme Court vacates theft conviction of Jennifer Teising, former Wabash Twp. trustee

Jennifer Teising, convicted for theft in 2021 and ousted as Wabash Township trustee, shouldn’t have faced criminal charges in connection with accusations that she accepted township paychecks while not living in the township she represented, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In 12-page unanimous decision, the Supreme Court justices ruled that prosecutors might have found civil options to remove Teising from office during a tumultuous time when she sold her home and went absent from the West Lafayette-based township for long stretches.

But they ruled that Teising didn’t believe she quit meeting residency laws for township trustees, so she didn’t have intent to steal money by cashing trustee paychecks – which cut to the core of grand jury indictments and an ultimate ruling from a December 2021 bench trial.