TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. — A judge sentenced Wabash Township trustee Jennifer Teising to 248 days on 21 counts of theft. The court found her guilty of not living in the township between June 17, 2020 and March 23, 2021 while collecting more than $20,000 in paychecks from the township.
Teising was sentenced to 124 days in the Tippecanoe County Jail, 124 days on Tippecanoe County Community Corrections and 847 days of probation. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount $27,897.
The felony convictions mean she will no longer be able to hold elected office in Indiana. Teising had refused to step down from her position as trustee.
When she was convicted in January, the judge found: "The Defendant's lifestyle and activities in Anderson, Indiana followed by her commitment to a six-month lot rental in Florida lend further credence to the conclusion that the Defendant did not actually reside in Wabash Township as required by Indiana Constitution..."
The court also found that as of June 2020, Teising's "nomadic RV lifestyle" meant she ceased to make her "true, permanent and fixed" home in Wabash Township and so forfeited the office of township trustee.
The judge found that Teising continued to collect salary as a trustee after that point constituted theft.
Teising made news in June of 2021 after announcing she was laying off all paid firefighters for Wabash Township.
Teising told 13News the decisions she was making were financial decisions in the best interest of the township. She had posted on Facebook that there was not enough money coming in to support firefighter operations.
A judge later denied a preliminary junction, which allowed Teising to move ahead with the firing.
The interim trustee, Angel Valentin, was able to come up with a board-approved plan to rehire those firefighters. All four Wabash Township firefighters returned to work at the end of January.