Special Judge Evan Roberts denied a motion to continue the public corruption trial for Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine on Friday.
Rovenstine’s trial is scheduled on Feb. 7 for 10 felony charges, including bribery, intimidation and official misconduct in Kosciusko County Circuit Court.
Rovenstine’s attorneys filed for a motion to continue the hearing on Tuesday. Roberts issued the ruling denying the motion.
A grand jury indicted Rovenstine along with former Grace College Professor Mark Soto and mixed martial artist Kevin Bronson in February 2016.
Prosecutors allege Rovenstine agreed to take a bribe of $30,000 to allow Soto and Bronson to meet unmonitored while Bronson was in the Kosciusko County Jail.
Rovenstine is charged with threatening Warsaw Police Officer Paul Heaton, who initiated the investigation into Soto and Bronson.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department had previously investigated allegations that Heaton was sleeping with a criminal informant. The results of that investigation were never released.
Soto and Bronson were indicted after officials allege they used intimidation and racketeering to raise money to make a movie about Bronson’s life in the Aryan Brotherhood, drugs and his subsequent conversion to Christianity. Bronson became an active member of Christ’s Covenant Church in Warsaw, where the pastor and many church members were deeply invested in the movie.
The movie was never made, Bronson’s martial arts business failed, and Bronson had a falling out with the church.
Soto and Bronson will face their own jury trial in April.
In earlier court documents, special prosecutor Nelson Chipman said he is close to a plea agreement with Bronson.
