WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.— Four Indiana State Police detectives served a search warrant Friday morning at the offices of the Wabash Township trustee.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeremy Piers confirmed detectives served a search warrant there Friday morning for an ongoing investigation. He did not say what police were investigating.
A source associated with the township said there were four detectives on site, and they reportedly removed items from the office. A detective told this person they were doing a criminal investigation.
The Journal & Courier called Wabash Township Trustee JenniferTeising for comment on Friday about the search warrant.She did not answer her phone, and her voicemail box is full.
Wabash Township Board members Angel Valentin and Brendan Betz both said Friday they were aware of state police serving a search warrant, but neither commented about it.
Valentin told the Journal & Courier that he has spoke with Indiana State Police detectives.
Betz has not spokenwith police, but he did provide copies of the township board minutes to police at their request, Betz said. Those documents are open to public inspection.
The Journal & Courier was unable to reach board member Michelle Wietbrock for comment.
Questions over residence
The Journal & Courier broke the news Dec. 22 that Teising might not be residing in the township as required by law. The J&C, part of the USA Today Network, sent a photographer to the PanamaCity Beach trailer park where she was residing. The photograph took pictures of her there on Dec. 22, and township sources said she hadbeen there since the end of October.
Teising sold her West Lafayette house in June 2020, and she claimed last monthto be livingat 132 Knox Drive.
She voted in the General Election from that address, according to Tippecanoe County voting records.
“According to Indiana, that’s my residence,” Teising said Dec. 18, adding thatshe updated her driver's license with the necessary documents to declare Knox Drive as her residence. “I sold my house. I moved. I’m now a renter."
Neighbors told the Journal & Courier in December that Teising does notlive there and has not been seen there, except for a week in the fall when she parked her travel trailer in the driveway.
The owner of the house, GregMichalski, said he rented a room to Teising.
Teising unknowingly gave a source access to her phone's location in the spring, and Teising spent the summer months at an address in Anderson, Indiana, as well as a week or more at a second home of Tippecanoe County Councilwoman Lisa Dullum, D-4th District, in Sheffield Township.
Dullum said Teising was visiting with her and stayed there, but didn't explain why they didn't visit at Teising's Knox Drive residence.
Calls for Teising to resign
Wabash Township Town Board members published a letter Dec. 21, requesting Teising resign. She didn't.
Later that day, Teising fired township Fire Chief Ed Ward, and firefighters showed support for Ward by declaring they would not respond to calls for service. That protest ended after less than 48 hours.
On Dec. 28, the township board adopted a resolution expressing no confidence in Teising.
Teising returned to West Lafayette on Dec. 24, and her truck was seen parked in the drive at 132 Knox Drive. It was gone by the first week of the year.
Teising's truck has not been seen on Knox Drive since before Jan. 5 during periodic checks by the Journal & Courier at various times of the day. She also has not been seen at the trustee's office this year.
'I have been working remotely'
Teising did not attend the township board's yearly organizational meeting on Jan. 5, and she had not completed her paperwork for her yearly report by the Jan. 19 meeting, Betz said.
Board members tried to get Teising, who receives a salary of almost $36,000,to agree on a date to reschedule that meeting, but she has not responded, Betz said. Board members set Feb. 3 for the annual report meeting.
During the Dec. 18 interview with Teising, she refusedto say where she was or where she has been since selling her house.
“I have been working remotely during this pandemic to accommodate the necessary safety precautions for myself and our staff,” Teising said during an interview Dec. 18.
Asked from where she was working remotely, she said, “It’s none of your business.”
“Remotely means from wherever,” she said when pressed. “I have worked from the township remotely from wherever I have been on planet Earth.
“I cannot imagine why it’s important for you to know where I am physically on Earth while this pandemic is raging.”
Reach Ron Wilkins at 765-420-5231 or at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
