4 of 5 officials in Goshen School Board fraud case arrested

GOSHEN, Ind. (WNDU) - Four of the five people who are charged in connection with possible election fraud during the Goshen Community Schools Board of Trustees election have been arrested after turning themselves in.

According to our reporting partners at The Goshen News, jail logs released Wednesday morning show that Jose Elizalde, Mario Garber and Andrea Johnson were booked into the Elkhart County Jail following charges and warrants officially filed Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Roger Nafziger turned himself in for arrest Thursday. The arrest status of former Goshen Mayor Allan Kauffman, who is the fifth person charged, is unclear as of Thursday afternoon.

According to The Goshen News, the four individuals who have been arrested made bail.

All five of them are facing Level 6 felony charges for filing a fraudulent report and misdemeanors for accepting a contribution made in another person’s name. Kauffman reportedly faces four additional misdemeanor charges of accepting a contribution made in another’s name.

The allegations stem from the 2022 elections, after contributions of $11,770 were reportedly gathered from Sue Neeb, a retired schoolteacher, without getting the necessary information from those donors.

Those funds were allegedly given to Kauffman and distributed by him to the candidates’ campaigns for a mailer disclosing affiliations of their opponents, with advocacy groups like Purple for Parents, which is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group in Indiana.

The election board issued fines to those who were involved in the campaign finance fraud, including 32 people who donated through the mailer.

Per election law, any person who donates more than $100 toward a campaign should be listed on finance forms.

In April 2023, over 40 people were fined for campaign violations, according to the Elkhart County Election Board.

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