ELKHART COUNTY COURTS: Arson suspect has initial hearing
Jun. 27—GOSHEN — A man who allegedly attempted to ignite a gas station gasoline well on fire in Elkhart was in Elkhart County Circuit Court Thursday for an initial hearing.
Abraham Villegas Jr., 33, Elkhart, was arrested by Elkhart city police on two counts of arson, a Level 4 felony; resisting causing bodily injury, a Level 6 felony; criminal mischief, a Level 6 felony; and interfering with reporting a crime, a Class A misdemeanor in the early morning hours of June 22.
Police say the owner of the Marathon Gas Station at 1218 S. Main St. contacted police after he observed a man outside attempting to light a gasoline well on fire on the security footage at 5 a.m. Police also reviewed the footage and saw on video a man entering the parking lot on the south side, retrieving trash from the bins, pulling the nozzle out of a pump, and saturating the trash with gasoline, a probable cause affidavit reads. He then reportedly took the trash to the well, ignited it, and threw it into the well before fleeing north. Police did find melted plastic inside the well and burnt debris.
About 45 minutes later, another officer heard a tire popping in the parking garage where police vehicles are kept on Marion Street and found at the location, a police vehicle on fire. Among other notable problems with the vehicle, the officer noted that a propane tank was lying on its side within feet of the blazing vehicle, and confirmed the fire was intentional. The officer went searching for a suspect, having not seen any vehicles leaving the area recently.
They did note someone, Villegas, walking northbound on East Street. He was reportedly carrying a fuel canister and another officer attempted to stop him, and the man and an officer got into a physical fight. When he was handcuffed, police reported that Villegas refused to identify himself and was transported to the jail.
Villegas' pretrial conference is scheduled for July 18, with trial status conference on Dec. 12, and jury trial scheduled for Jan. 6.
DELANEY M. DAVIS
The fourth individual associated with an armed robbery in 2020 was in Elkhart County Circuit Court on Thursday for a pretrial conference. Delaney M. Davis, 21, along with three others, is accused of robbing a man at Ashton Pines in Goshen Oct. 6, 2020.
Adonis Blake and Morgan Carlson pleaded guilty last year.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim was asked by a woman he met on Snapchat for help with her car, so he met her at Ashton Pines Apartment Complex. While he was looking at the car, two men approached on foot and robbed him at gunpoint, tearing his shirt, and taking a stainless steel gold chain, his wallet, his phone and money from his glove box, according to the affidavit.
The two men then got into the car that the woman arrived in, with that woman and another who remained in the car and left, the report reads.
The robbery was captured by a security camera at the front of one of the apartments, reportedly showing the group arriving together, the two men leaving the area, and the woman moving into the driver's seat. A search warrant of the cell phone number the woman used to contact the victim showed the number belonged to Blake, the report reads.
It was later learned by police that the guns were BB guns. Police interviewed Jazmine Jordan and Carlson who reportedly said they, Blake, and Davis were involved, calling Davis the lookout and threatening the victim with one of the BB guns. While in custody at Hardin County Detention Center in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Davis admitted that he'd been present but denied having a weapon or being involved in the planning of the robbery, police reported.
Davis' trial status conference Dec.12, with a jury trial Jan. 6.
CHRISTIAN D. LEITER
Ahead of his sentencing, Christian D. Leiter, 22, wished to apologize to the victim of a robbery he was involved in back in 2019.
"If I had the opportunity to apologize and talk to him I would — that person that did that to him, he's gone," Leiter said. "I would never do something like that again. It was just wrong. I know I disappointed a lot of people in my family."
The teen victim reported that he'd spent the night at Dylan Simon's house, and Christian Leiter was also there.
The following morning, Aug. 9, 2019, there was an argument over a missing $100 bill and Xanax belonging to Simon. The three teens were dropped off by a friend on C.R. 16 near a wooded area not far from Leiter's home and went walking through the woods. Simons struck him, and he ran, and Leiter and Simons chased him into the woods, punching kicking, and stomping on him, and stole his shoes, pants, and iPod and ran away.
A neighbor told police he had motion cameras directed at the entry of the woods that showed two males running from the woods and identified Simons as one of the two individuals, as well as footage of the two men yelling at and kicking another person, the victim.
That evening, Simons sent the victim a text apologizing for the incident.
Leiter was sentenced to a total of six years at the Indiana Department of Corrections, with two suspended on probation and the remainder to be served alternatively at Elkhart Community Corrections with a recommendation by the judge of work release.
DANIEL W. RINGER
A man charged with molesting two girls was sentenced to 40 years by Elkhart County Superior Court 3 Judge Teresa Cataldo Thursday.
Daniel Ringer was arrested on March 19, 2021 for accusations of molestation against a 13-year-old girl.
The victim told forensic interviewers that the violations had been occurring almost daily since she was 5 or 6 years old. The victim claimed Ringer had also been molesting her younger sister, who affirmed the accusations.
Ringer was sentenced by plea to five counts of child molesting, a Class A felony, to 40 years, with 25 years to be served at the Indiana Department of Corrections, and the remaining 15 years to be served on 10 years of reporting probation.
MARCUS J. LOVE
Elkhart County Superior Court Judge Teresa Cataldo confirmed that Marcus J. Love's murder charge will go to trial on July 15.
Love is being tried in a cold-case murder that occurred almost 20 years ago. Police were called to the 600 block of Third Street, Elkhart May 22, 2002, where a neighbor had contacted police reporting that Robert Reed was dead on the floor of his home.
The death was ruled a homicide, resulting from multiple injuries the head and neck.
The case remained unsolved although several individuals were marked as possibly being involved through the investigation, until one witness claimed to police that Marcus J. Love, now 51, told them about the murder soon after it happened, claiming to have beaten Reed to death, according to a probable cause affidavit. Another witness reportedly told police that Love would frequent Reed's home to use drugs around the time of Reed's death.
Blood samples collected at the home were reportedly found to be consistent with Love's DNA. They also allegedly found DNA on Reed's shirt at the time of his death and, according to investigators, confirmed it was from Reed himself and from Love.
During an interview in 2011, Love reportedly told police he didn't know Reed, but that he saw him occasionally at Faith Mission. In an interview with police in 2021, Love initially denied being in Reed's home and denied the altercation had occurred, but later admitted to frequenting the place, and said he couldn't remember if he'd had an altercation with Reed, a probable cause affidavit reads.
Love was charged with murder in August of 2022.
NICK C. HUNSBERGER, II
One of two parents charged in the death of their baby saw his jury trial set on Thursday during Elkhart County Superior Court 3.
Nick C. Hunsberger is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony. His jury trial is Oct. 28, with a pretrial conference on Oct. 17.
On May 8, 2022, Amanda Fahlbeck contacted police to report her 2-week-old son nonresponsive at her home in the 28000 block of C.R. 23, Goshen. Paramedics responded, but the baby boy was declared deceased later at the hospital.
The baby and a sibling had slept in bed with the father, Nick Hunsberger, and Fahlbeck, told police that the baby was unresponsive when she awakened at 8 a.m.
Fahlbeck also told police she'd lost another child previously due to co-sleeping, a probable cause affidavit reads.
At the hospital, police noted that both parents appeared intoxicated so they issued blood tests and found amphetamine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and norfentanyl in their systems, the affidavit states.
Hunsberger reportedly said he'd awakened Fahlbeck around 2 a.m. frantic about the child.
Police said they also found bags of fentanyl and meth.
An autopsy of the baby identified factors of death including preterm birth, cord blood positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and morphine; drug abuse and tobacco dependence by the mother; and complex sleep surface sharing The child was also noted to have Naloxone in his blood at the time of death. Both parents had prescriptions at the house for the drug, police reported.
The state also mentioned considerations to join Fahlbeck and Hunsberger's cases, but no official decision has been made.