Jun. 26—GOSHEN — Jose Elizalde is the first of Goshen Community School’s candidates to plead guilty to election fraud, stemming from the 2022 school board elections.

Elkhart County Superior Court 3 Judge Teresa Cataldo accepted his plea, filed May 30, during court proceedings Wednesday.

Elizalde pleaded guilty to one count of Filing a Fraudulent Report, a Level 6 Felony. The plea includes 365 days at the Elkhart County Jail suspended on reporting probation. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 7.

Roger Nafziger, Jose Elizalde, Mario Garber, and Andrea Johnson are each charged with filing a fraudulent report, a Level 6 felony, and accepting a contribution made in another’s name, a Class B misdemeanor, after allegedly filing fraudulent campaign finance reports. A fifth defendant, Allan Kauffman, has the same charges but has five counts of the Class B misdemeanor instead of just one.

Garber and Kauffman also met in Elkhart County Superior Court 3 Wednesday, both for pretrial conferences, where their individual jury trials were rescheduled due to court congestion to Oct. 21. Garber’s attorney also scheduled a status conference for Aug. 21.

Garber, Nafziger and Elizalde are current sitting board members. Kauffman resigned from the board Feb. 26, citing health concerns. Keith Goodman was voted in as his replacement in late March.

The charges stem from the 2022 school board election. Contributions were reportedly gathered and distributed to candidates to help pay for a mailer against three other candidates Oct. 29, 2022 to Elkhart Township residents at a cost of $11,770.

During an Elkhart County Election Board hearing April 27, 2023, Allan Kauffman, who also happened to be Elizalde’s campaign chairman, said he was approached by a retired school teacher because of concerns she had about 2022 Primary Election school board candidates Rob Roeder, Ryan Glick and Linda Hartman.

The teacher was concerned about the future of local education should Purple for Parents-endorsed candidates Roeder, Glick, and Hartman gain elected office. At the time, Kauffman said the teacher wished to remain anonymous to prevent backlash of her husband’s business. The teacher gathered the funds and Kauffman distributed them between the four election candidates, whose campaign finance committees paid Maple Leaf Printing for the cost of the mailer.

They listed Kauffman as the donor on campaign finance forms, which the election board later discovered was technically untrue. Per election law, any person who donates more than $100 toward a campaign should be listed on finance forms.

The Elkhart County Election Board found that the retired school teacher, Sue Neeb, had collected funds from a total of 32 individuals and, while she did keep some records, election law dictates that donors offer name, address, occupation, date, and dollar amount for all donations — and Neeb did not collect all of the necessary information.

A felony conviction in the state of Indiana means the individual must be removed from the board and it prevents them from running for election in the future.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.