Wayne County Auditor Mark Hoelscher has entered a pretrial diversion agreement to resolve two misdemeanor intimidation charges against him.
Hoelscher signed the agreement May 19, and Judge Matthew R. Cox, the case’s special judge, granted an indefinite continuance May 20. The scheduled July 18 trial in Superior Court 3 has been canceled, according to case records.
In the agreement, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office agrees to withhold prosecution of the charges as long as Hoelscher meets requirements. Hoelscher must not commit a criminal offense for 180 days, must pay $334 within 30 days, and must refrain from harassing, intimidating, threatening or having contact with the two people he’s alleged to have intimidated. Hoelscher must also notify the program administrator within seven days any change of address, criminal charge against him or arrest.
If Hoelscher violates a condition, prosecution of the case would resume.
Hoelscher was charged in January on suspicion of placing notes in two neighbors’ mailboxes. The notes, which were handwritten on envelopes, read, “Break into my house again or hurt any of my animals I will give you something to arrest me for,” according to the police narrative by Indiana State Police Trooper Avery Weisbrodt filed with the charging information.
Hoelscher, who was elected auditor in 2022, has kept a variety of animals on his property. He admitted to Weisbrodt that he had left the notes.
A version of this article appeared in the May 28 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.