Twists and turns in the race for St. Joseph County Probate Court Judge
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- UPDATE: The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office released a statement Tuesday, regarding the alleged incident involving Loris Zappia.
The statement reads:
"The St. Joseph Count Prosecutor’s Office has been notified by third and fourth parties of an alleged incident involving part-time Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Loris Zappia.
No complaint or investigation regarding Mr. Zappia has been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office by any law enforcement agency to review for possible criminal charges. Any such complaint or investigation involving a deputy prosecutor employed by St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office would require a referral to a special prosecutor for review.
The Prosecutor’s Office is working with St. Joseph County Human Resources to determine what, if any, steps should be taken regarding Mr. Zappia’s employment."
ORIGINAL STORY: The race for St. Joseph County Probate Court judge takes another twist with a mysterious alleged family brawl involving the republican party candidate.
Loris Zappia, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Jason Chicowicz, posted the following message on his campaign Facebook page Sunday:
"In keeping with my commitment to transparency and integrity, I want to acknowledge incidents that occurred on Friday outside of my control, aggressively orchestrated by my brother, a hostile surrogate of the Cichowicz campaign. This was an unfortunate private matter that my siblings and I will deal with as a family," the post stated.
The ABC57 newsroom confirmed there was a police call for an alleged assault at a Zappia residence in Granger on Friday. However, call notes from St. Joseph County Police show no one was home when police responded, no incident report was completed, no charges were filed, and there is no body camera footage.
ABC57 called Loris Zappia's brother Len, the alleged victim--- who declined an interview. He said there would be a problem if he commented to the media because of his position as a judicial officer, having worked under Judge Cichowicz, his brother's opponent, as a magistrate at the probate court.
St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair Diana Hess weighed in Monday.
"If those allegations are true, I would just question if he has the temperament that we want in a judicial officer," Hess said. "And also, if that's the kind of temperament we want-- do we want someone like that around our juveniles?"
This latest drama follows the St. Joseph County Republican Party calling for Judge Cichowicz to resign from the bench just last week.
They're blaming him for a teenage inmate, 18-year-old Cyjarron Odynski, who escaped Juvenile Justice Center custody during an outing at Four Winds Field for a South Bend Cubs game in late July, a program Judge Cichowicz oversees. Four days later, Odynski allegedly murdered 20-year-old Isaiah Walton-Davis in a South Bend alley.
Republican Chair Jackie Horvath released a statement that reads, "Three juveniles were with two officers at a local South Bend Cubs game when one of them slipped away and committed this heinous crime. The lesson is clear - when you do bad things, you should be punished. Not taken to a baseball game."
But Hess disagrees.
"The calls for him to resign over that are misguided," Hess said. "I think he has done some really great work developing programming, to help young people re-enter society."
Judge Cichowicz was suspended from the bench for 45 days last year by the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Judicial Qualifications for Judicial Misconduct. It all stemmed from his handling of a former client's multi-million-dollar estate that Judge Cichowicz wound up inheriting himself, uncovered in an ABC57 investigation.
The late millionaire Russel Cartwright's will is now being challenged in court by a woman who claims Cichowicz cheated her out of an inheritance.
Meanwhile, Loris Zappia has based his campaign to replace Cichowicz on calls for "integrity" and just picked up a public endorsement from Republican Congressman Rudy Yakym.
"Loris is a lifelong Hoosier resident and has lived right here in St. Joe County," Yakym said in a Facebook video. "He also served as deputy prosecutor for over 25 years, and he did an incredible job in that role."
And then there's a deadly crash in Loris Zappia's past, which he is very transparent about in his campaign bio:
"In the summer of 1983, when I was 17, I experienced the greatest tragedy in my life. I was involved in a car accident, where I hit a brother of Holy Cross, who was riding his bike... I was told the grand jury determined it was an unfortunate accident of two people at the same place at the wrong time. I coped with extreme grief, sadness, guilt, and shame."
That is a lot for any political campaign, but certainly more intrigue and infighting than most local judicial races.
ABC57 reached out to both candidates for comment. Zappia deferred to his Facebook statement, and we did not hear back from Cichowicz.