Teising’s defamation claims against Wabash Township dismissed
Issues about backpay remain, but former township trustee’s claims of illegal surveillance, defamation and conspiracy are too late, judge rules
A former Wabash Township trustee’s claims against past and present township officials who she said conspired on a narrative that led to criminal charges and her ouster from office in 2022 came too late came too late for a defamation lawsuit filed in 2025, a judge ruled this week.
Claims that Wabash Township owes Jennifer Rae Teising backpay for a year of salary she lost when she was convicted in January 2022 of theft connected her time as township trustee – criminal charges later vacated by the Indiana Supreme Court – are consistent with state law and may remain in a lawsuit Teising filed in June 2025, Tippecanoe Circuit Judge Sean Persin wrote in a Dec. 23 order posted Friday.
But Persin granted Wabash Township’s motion to dismiss the rest of Teising’s claims that she had been illegally surveilled by the township fire chief who had access to her phone’s location; that she was the target of false statements; and that she had been the victim of a conspiracy by a host of people looking to end her tenure as trustee.
