A former Jonesville official who admitted in 2007 to stealing more than $92,000 from the town was back in court for testimony about having her probation revoked for failing to repay the money as promised.
Melissa L. Schultheis, 45, 206 Market St., Jonesville, was also accused of submitting a forged letter into evidence and committing perjury, according to evidence submitted during the hearing.
No ruling was made in Schultheis case on Friday. The petition to revoke her probation has been pending since last July in Bartholomew Circuit Court, court records state. Schultheis’ attorney, Sean Thomasson also made a motion to dismiss the petition to revoke during the hearing.
According to the motion filed on Thursday, the court surrendered its power to threaten Schultheis with jail time back in 2013 when the restitution order was changed from a criminal to a civil judgment.
Since there is no longer a criminal judgment, a petition to revoke probation is an unconstitutional way to collect a civil debt, Thomasson argued.
The only way to collect the restitution is a court-ordered meeting between Schultheis and those who lost money “without the threat of imperilment of incarceration,” according to Thomasson.
At the request of Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash, Judge Kelly Benjamin gave the prosecutor two weeks to consult with the Indiana Attorney General’s office on the defense motion to dismiss the petition.
Following that, Nash and Thomasson will be given an additional week to prepare responses and, if needed, deliver closing arguments, Benjamin said.
The case against Schultheis began with a state audit in late 2007 that revealed Jonesville was missing thousands of dollars in its accounts. It was almost a year later that Schultheis, who was the town’s clerk-treasurer from September 1998 to January 2008, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of felony theft.
Although then-Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Stephen Heimann suspended her 15-year sentence, Schultheis was ordered to make restitution payments of $300 a month until she had paid back $92,475.
Online court records show $13,640 has been paid, but the Jonesville resident still owes $78,299 in restitution, as well as $6,944 for court costs and filing fees.
Although the criminal court judgment against Schultheis was reduced to a civil judgment in 2013, petitions to revoke probation have been filed five separate times after she fell behind in her payments, according to court records.
Acting as special judge in 2017, Heimann ordered Schultheis to complete 24 hours of community service per week at any time when she was not employed at least 35 hours per week.
But a letter was submitted into evidence earlier this year that excused the Jonesville resident from all work beginning on Oct. 23, 2018 — the day Schultheis was scheduled to start community service after losing her job.
While Schultheis testified the letter, purportedly written by Seymour physician Amanda Souza, was authentic, her probation officer, Stacey Harry, doesn’t believe it is legitimate. In fact, Harry testified she never saw the letter until a Feb. 7 hearing.
Harry testified that after she talked with the staff at Souza’s office, she learned that no such letter that excused Schultheis from work last October had been written.
The only related letter from the physician’s office was not written for the defendant, but rather for her husband, Harry said. The letter asked Charles Schultheis’ employer to give him occasional time off to care for his family after his wife underwent surgery on Dec. 13, 2019.
While Schultheis said she needed six weeks to recover from a surgery on her reproductive system, Harry testified the physician’s staff told her there was no reason Schultheis couldn’t work another two months until the surgery.
Nash asked Harry if she would describe Schultheis’ work-excusing letter as a forgery. Nash immediately withdrew his question after defense attorney Sean Thomasson objected.
But Nash did say the letter, which seemed phrased to indicate Oct. 24 was in the future, was dated on Nov. 14. And while testifying, Harry said she found the letter suspicious because the date line didn’t correspond from the signature line.
Thomasson introduced several documents into evidence showing the Schultheis family monthly expenses are currently $1,412 more than income. In early 2009, Schultheis claimed the money she stole was used to pay for medical expenses for two children with physical problems.
On Friday, she said at least three of her children still have serious and expensive medical problems. With the restitution payments, the family often has to make choices on paying for housing, utilities, food or medicines, Schultheis said during the hearing.
