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GOP House candidate in Indiana arrested on eve of election

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:11:39 +0000

Inset: Jim Schenke (Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Jim Schenke campaigning in Indiana (Jim Schenke/Facebook).

A Republican running for an Indiana House of Representatives seat was arrested early Monday morning on the eve of Election Day for commenting on a Facebook post made by someone who has a protective order against him, according to police.

GOP candidate Jim Schenke, who is running to unseat District 26 House Rep. Chris Campbell, was booked on a preliminary invasion of privacy charge at 6:10 a.m. Monday, according to the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office. Records show he was released after paying a cash bond of $250.

The arrest marks Schenke’s second brush with the law since September, when he was charged with “operating a motor vehicle without financial responsibility” for a motor home crash he allegedly caused — sending his campaign RV into a light post — while the vehicle was uninsured, per local reports and court records. That case was dropped on Oct. 22.

Schenke’s arrest on Monday also marks the second time that the 54-year-old has been accused of violating a no-contact order in Indiana, with him being arrested in 2016 and later convicted, according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier. That conviction, however, wound up being reversed by the Indiana Court of Appeals in 2019 and then sealed from public record in August 2023 as part of an expungement order, the Courier reports.

Schenke has at least two protection orders currently against him from a local Indiana attorney and their staff, per the Courier, and one that he reportedly placed on a West Lafayette man who lives in Schenke’s neighborhood.

Tippecanoe Chief Deputy Terry Ruley told Law&Crime on Monday that the order Schenke violated was against an individual who also has one against him as well, though he couldn’t confirm which person it was specifically.

“It’s a weird situation,” Ruley said. “They each have one against each other.”

According to Ruley, the sheriff’s office received a complaint on Sunday, Nov. 3, at approximately 8:35 p.m. from the alleged victim, who stated that Schenke was violating his order of protection against him by commenting on his Facebook page.

“Our officers looked into it, did a bit of an investigation, and determined there was probable cause to believe there was a violation under an Indiana state statute called invasion of privacy, and that would be a person violating an order of protection,” Ruley said.

While he didn’t know what Schenke wrote on Facebook, Ruley did confirm that it wasn’t a threat or an offensive statement, just a violation of the order’s no-contact clause.

“The victim did not respond back to him, or he’d be in violation too and would go to jail,” the deputy chief noted. “It’s a class A misdemeanor.”

Indiana’s District 26, which includes parts of Benton County and West Lafayette, has seen Campbell — a Democrat — as its incumbent since 2018.

Court records show that Schenke, on top of everything else he’s been dealing with, also has a civil case pending against him that was filed in July by the Tippecanoe County Election Board over his use of political ad disclaimers. He is accused of not disclosing the financing behind his motor home properly, with it being decked out with large campaign ads and just three small handwritten disclaimers that are hard to read.

Schenke has argued that state law requires disclaimers to be written out in at least 7-point type, and his motor home ones are larger than that, he says.

Attempts by Law&Crime to reach him and Campbell for comment were unsuccessful.

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Son allegedly killed dad with ax, power saw on Christmas Eve

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 22:20:45 +0000

Gregory Meyer appears inset in two images, left and right, against an image showing the area where he was killed in Boonton, N.J. on Dec. 24, 2023. (GoFundMe; Google Maps)

A New Jersey man with a history of mental illness and addiction killed his father in particularly gruesome fashion on Christmas Eve, authorities and family members say.

Kyle Meyer, 33, stands accused of one count each of intentional murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon, for the brutal slaying of Gregory Meyer, 61, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

The grim crime is believed to have been committed using an ax and a battery-operated pole saw, according to court documents.

On Dec. 24, authorities responded to the Meyer home on Old Denville Road in Boonton, a small town some 15 miles west of Paterson.

There, the victim was found deceased at around 1:15 p.m., authorities say. The elder Meyer lived in the residence with his son, who quickly became a suspect in the killing. The defendant was arrested and charged in Paterson at around 9 p.m. later that same day.

The victim and his alleged killer lived in the same house together — along with the victim’s mother and sister, according to a statement of probable cause filed in the case and obtained by NorthJersey.com.

Gregory Meyer’s mother was in the house while it happened. She reportedly told police that she heard an argument between her son and grandson that eventually escalated to screaming followed by silence. Then, she called her own daughter, who called 911.

At the scene, investigators allegedly found the two presumed murder weapons next to the deceased man’s body. Each of the tools appeared to be stained with blood, according to the affidavit cited by the outlet.

The victim appeared to be suffering from ax wounds to his left leg as well as saw wounds on his head, fingers, and hands, NorthJersey.com reported. The pole saw also appeared to have remnants of fabric that matched with the fabric on the back of Gregory Meyer’s jacket.

“Greg was greatly loved by his friends and family and we are grieving his death,” the Meyer family said in a statement provided to regional cable station News 12. “Our family believes it lost Greg’s son Kyle many years ago when Kyle gave himself over to alcohol and abuse of drugs legal and illegal. That abuse led to recurring periods of delusions and extreme paranoia, making him think others were out to kill him.”

“Greg was a loving father who tried to help,” the family’s statement continued. “Our family was told Kyle could not be committed against his will unless he made threats—we want to warn other families that mental illness should be taken seriously, and those with delusions of paranoia can be a violent threat waiting to happen.”

No motive has been floated by law enforcement thus far.

In an email, a spokesperson for the Boonton Township Police Department said the investigation into the murder is ongoing.

The defendant is being detained in the Morris County jail. On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty during an initial appearance. He is slated to appear in court again on Thursday for a detention hearing.

“On behalf of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, we offer our deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends,” Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll told Law&Crime in an email. “We understand the impact such a loss can have on the community, and we ask for respect and privacy for the family. I would like to remind the community that our investigation remains active and ongoing. I would also like to acknowledge the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, Morris County Sheriff’s Office, Boonton Township Police, and Paterson Police Department for their efforts in this investigation.”

In a GoFundMe for funeral expenses and ongoing support for the victim’s 94-year-old mother, the Meyer family reiterated the pain that comes from a forever loss and their concerns about mental health.

“Our family is suddenly faced with many burdens from this unbearable tragedy,” the fundraiser reads. “We ask all families to take mental illness and addiction seriously. God bless you.”

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