Wayne County Auditor Mark Hoelscher faces two misdemeanor intimidation charges regarding handwritten notes left in neighbors’ mailboxes.
The notes that 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, keeps alpacas, angus cows and sheep on his Esteb Road property.
Since that time, four of his animals have died.
The Class A misdemeanor charges were filed Jan. 29 by members of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. Superior Court 3 has jurisdiction over Wayne County’s misdemeanor cases. Union County Circuit Court Judge Matthew R. Cox has accepted appointment as special judge for the case after Superior 3 Judge Mark Cox recused himself.
Brewer Broadcasting first reported the charges.
Hoelscher, who was at his desk Jan. 30, learned about the charges from his staff. He declined to comment about the charges.
Weisbrodt responded Jan. 16 to Esteb Road for the reported harassment of Gary Wolff and another neighbor, according to the trooper’s report. Wolff provided security video that showed Hoelscher at the mailboxes, and Hoelscher admitted to Weisbrodt that he left the notes, the report said.
“It was a warning,” the report quoted Hoelscher as saying to Weisbrodt. “If you do anything to me or my animals, there will be problems.”
Hoelscher told Weisbrodt that he had reported actions by Wolff and the other neighbor to Sheriff Randy Retter and a sheriff’s department detective, the report said.
Retter confirmed those conversations to WWN, but said the actions Hoelscher disclosed were not criminal. A report prepared for informational purposes indicates that it does not establish criminal grounds and was not prepared to initiate a criminal investigation, Retter said.
Wolff told WWN that he has filed for a protective order against Hoelscher.
Wolff and his son, Jesse, have requested a zoning variance to permit 12 shipping containers to store fireworks for a wholesale business on the Esteb Road property. Several containers already stored fireworks on the property despite the lack of zoning approval. The 57-acre property is zoned agricultural.
The Wolffs’ petition originally appeared on the agenda for the Nov. 14 Wayne County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting; however, because an absence and another board member’s recusal left only three members to hear the petition, it was tabled. Hoelscher was among the about two dozen citizens attending the meeting. When asked how many opposed the petition, about 20 raised their hands.
Since then, the petition has also been tabled at the BZA’s December and January meetings. It again appears on the agenda for the 6 p.m. Feb. 13 meeting in the chambers of the Wayne County Administration Building, 401 E. Main St., Richmond.
Hoelscher was among residents who sent letters encouraging neighbors who oppose the fireworks business to contact the county’s planning department. His signed letter indicates the “business is retail and wholesale of fireworks.”
The Wolffs submitted a letter to the planning department indicating that only hay has been sold from the Esteb location and there is not a retail fireworks operation “as suggested by a county official.” It further says, “These are nothing but lies concocted by a bitter neighbor using his professional position to fear monger the neighborhood.”
Updated Friday, January 31 at 5:25 p.m. to correct information about who reported the harassment Jan. 16, to add information about the appointment of a special judge, to add information provided by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, and to add information provided by Gary Wolff.
A version of this article will appear in the February 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.