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ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — Republican County Council Member Dan Schaetzle took to social media to call out the Republican Candidate for St. Joseph County Probate Court, Loris Zappia. In his post, Schaetzle explains he will not be voting for Zappia, however, he stops short of saying he will cast his vote for Zappia’s Democrat opponent.
“I am a Republican, and I vote mostly for Republicans. In this case, the St. Joe County Republican Party has let us down.” Schaetzle wrote in his post. “Loris has a history marked by a tragedy when he was a young man. There has been plenty of press on that tragedy. I won’t go into it here. Why? Because it isn’t the reason I won’t be voting for him. I won’t be voting for Loris for two reasons. First, in a recent event, Loris allegedly showed an inability to solve a disagreement without getting physical. It is alleged that he was rude to his brother’s wife and then when confronted with his behavior by his brother, he physically attacked his brother. He wasn’t surprised and raised his hands as a natural reaction. He didn’t just push away from his brother to avoid conflict. It is alleged that he purposefully and violently attacked his brother. At 60 years old, if a man doesn’t have the ability to solve conflict without violence, I don’t think he belongs on the bench. Secondly, it is now being reported that Loris allegedly owes a large sum of money in back taxes. Paying our taxes is a civic duty, and something you would expect someone seeking a judgeship would be sure to do. If you can’t pay your taxes, you don’t belong on the bench. It is for these reasons that I cannot vote for Loris Zappia. I wish Loris the best in his endeavors; however, he shouldn’t be deciding the future of children in difficult circumstances if he can’t avoid violence in disagreements and delinquency in paying his taxes. Republicans, we need to do better.”
Zappia has been mired in controversy since announcing his bid to run for Probate Judge, including a recent Domestic Violence incident and new details being uncovered about an incident in which he killed a man with his car in the 1980s. The most recent controversy stems from an ad by the St. Joseph County Democrat Party, where they discovered Zappia has had more than $75,000 in tax liens through a LexisNexis search.
LORIS ZAPPIA KILLED A BROTHER OF HOLY CROSS IN 1983 — LIES ABOUT IT FOR DECADES
Last month, RNM published a investigative story containing police reports, uncovered through a public records request, showing Zappia has been lying about the circumstances surrounding a crash in which he killed bicyclist in 1983. The reports show Zappia failed to yield the right-of-way to a cyclist who appears to have been taking up the middle of the lane on a narrow road to prevent dangerous passing. The crash resulted in the death of 55-year-old Basil Thomas, a Brother of Holy Cross.
According to police reports, Zappia and Thomas were both headed south on Juniper Road near the intersection of Pendle Road in June of 1983. Reports state Zappia claimed he saw the bicyclist move to the middle lane of traffic at which point Zappia applied his brakes but was unable to stop before hitting Thomas. However, accident reconstruction shows Zappia didn’t apply his brakes until he hit Thomas, with more than 70-feet of skid marks starting at the point of contact.
In a recent op-ed published in the South Bend Tribune, Zappia also claimed his vision was obstructed by a box truck. However, that claim is also contradicted by police and witness reports at the time.
“The truck moved out of the way in time to avoid hitting the cycler. I did not.” Zappia wrote in his op-ed earlier this summer.
Nowhere in the police or investigation reports is a box truck mentioned. In fact, Zappia never stated to police or investigators that his vision was obstructed. To the contrary, immediately after the crash, Zappia told police he saw the cyclist heading in the same direction as him before taking up the middle of the lane.
For years, Zappia has also claimed he was a minor during the accident. Sometimes he has told people he was 16-years-old. Other times he has told folks he was 17, as is the case in that same South Bend Tribune op-ed.
It turns out, Zappia was actually a legal adult at the time of the crash — he had turned 18-years-old months earlier. This convenient lie may seem minor to some, however, for any journalist or opposing political researcher, it’s fairly evident it was meant to prevent folks from looking into the incident. As a minor all of the records involving Zappia would not be available to the public. In fact, REAL News Michiana has known about this incident for years, but never made any public records request until recently because it was assumed the requests would be denied due to Zappia’s age. RNM didn’t discover Zappia was 18-years-old at the time of the crash until we recently uncovered several archived news articles. The articles were difficult to track down as Zappia’s name is misspelled in each one. His name is also misspelled in the police report.
A GRAND JURY
Details from 1983 news reports are limited. They simply describe the crash and, later, a grand jury convening regarding the case. Zappia has been open about the fact that the case went to a grand jury, but suspiciously gave very few details on that as well. You see, a grand jury isn’t just called for no reason at all — there has to be evidence of a crime. Zappia has never answered the questions as to why a grand jury was necessary, what alleged crimes he accused of, and what facts or evidence the police uncovered where criminal charges were a possibility. RNM confronted Zappia about the inconsistencies in his story earlier this summer. He refused to answer any questions. Video of that confrontation can be seen below.
It’s also well known that grand juries are frequently used to get people out of crimes. For instance, prosecutors have historically used a grand jury to get police officers off the hook. The prosecutor, instead of just charging a suspect, takes it to a grand jury to see if members of the public believe the facts uncovered by the police meet the elements of a crime. However, this process gives the prosecutor a lot of power creating a narrative about what happened behind closed doors — as no victims, defense or witnesses are required to be presented. EVERYTHING is done in a secretive and sealed manner by only the prosecutor, making it very easy for the prosecutor to push the grand jury in one direction or another. This also allows the prosecutor to wash their hands of any charging decision one way or another.
A famous local case of potential grand jury malfeasance involved the death of a 22-year-old woman, Erica Flores, who was killed by a speeding SBPD Officer in 2018. According to an article in the South Bend Tribune at the time, “Presenting the case to a grand jury, attorney Thomas Dixon said, was the ‘preordained way to not get a charge against the officer.’”
So — why would the prosecutor in 1983 potentially be helping an 18-year-old Loris Zappia?
As it turns out, Zappia had a wealthy and influential family. Plus, according to sources, the lawyer he hired was good friends with the prosecutor.
According to multiple sources, Zappia hired Bill Stanley to represent him at the time. Stanley was widely known as the premier DUI lawyer in the region. Stanley was also close friends with the St. Joseph County Prosecutor, Mike Barnes. Barnes also had close ties to the Zappia family. RNM requested all of Barnes’ campaign finance records to see how much money was donated to his campaigns from the Zappia family and Bill Stanley, however, due to their age, those documents appear to have been destroyed and are no longer available.
Sources also tell RNM, Zappia’s uncle was an influential politician at the time — working as the Democrat Party Chair with aspirations to run for Mayor of South Bend.
ZAPPIA AND GOP DOWNPLAY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCIDENT
In August of this year, 59-year-old Loris Zappia also violently attacked his brother Len Zappia (61) TWICE outside of their Granger homes where they live directly across the street from each other. According to a masonry contractor who was doing working in the neighborhood at the time, at one point, Loris Zappia even took off his shirt and slapped his brother across the face. A St. Joseph County Human Resources report obtained by REAL News Michiana backs up those claims. The report can be read below.
Len Zappia Statement 8_12_2024
According to the HR report, Loris and Len Zappia have not had a speaking relationship for months due to Len Zappia’s refusal to endorse Loris Zappia’s candidacy for Probate Judge. Len Zappia is currently a sitting Magistrate Judge and works under Loris Zappia’s Democrat opponent. It’s important to note, Len Zappia is also the former St. Joseph County GOP Chair.
The HR report claims Loris Zappia was blaming his brother for releasing details contained in a REAL News Michiana investigation, detailing an incident in which Loris Zappia hit and killed a man with is car in 1983. (NOTE** RNM has never met or spoken to Len Zappia and has never used him as a source for any story.) Loris Zappia went as far as to harass Len Zappia’s wife by sending her unhinged text messages as early as 3:00am.
“(Len Zappia’s) wife’s phone receiving several texts at 3:00am or 4:00am on Friday morning, (Len) checked it. The texts were from Loris Zappia. The texts contained Facebook posts of the articles.” The report reads.
The next morning, Len Zappia walked to his brother’s home to ask him to stop.
“Loris then opened the door and lunged at Len. Len fell down, Loris spat on Len a couple of times while yelling and screaming in a complete rage. Len left and went to work.” The report reads.
After Len Zappia returned from work and was checking his mailbox, the report states Loris Zappia attacked him again.
“Loris charged into the street yelling. Loris yells at their brother-in-law, ‘Get the fuck in the house.’ Loris then rips off his shirt and followed Len into Len’s home. Loris pushed Len while they were in Len’s kitchen. Len did not fall. Len told Loris to leave. Len stated that he might have told Loris he was going to call the police. Loris left. Len did not call the police.”
Loris Zappia is currently a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the county. He refused to partake in the county HR investigation. He also refused to answer any questions when confronted by RNM.
Loris Zappia did later file a protective order against his brother, however, he quickly had it withdrawn. If he would have kept it, all of the above details would have been released in court and Loris Zappia could have be held responsible for perjury.
GOP DOWNPLAYS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Despite the Human Resources report and testimony from an independent witness, the St. Joseph County GOP is downplaying the Domestic Violence incident as a family “spat.”
In an op-ed published in the South Bend Tribune late last week, Mark Rolfes, the President of the political action committee Hoosier Conservative Voices, labeled the incident as a family “spat” while attempting to focus on the irrelevant issue of who called the police to begin with.
It’s important to note, the Hoosier Conservative Voices PAC was founded by current St. Joseph County Chairwoman Jackie Horvath. Sources have told RNM that Loris Zappia has also promised Jackie Horvath’s son, Attorney Ben Horvath, a job as a Magistrate if he were to win.
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While I appreciate Dan’s honesty and integrity, the party should have done a much better job vetting this guy BEFORE the primaries and not in the month leading into the general election.
Zappia, problematic as he is, would still do a lot less damage than another term of his Democrat opponent Chickowitz.
Hold your nose, vote Zappia, and raise hell with the SJCGOP to do better next time because THIS is unacceptable!