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ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — REAL News Michiana has obtained an email between St. Joseph County GOP Vice Chair Marvin “Joe” Layne and a wealthy donor in which Layne admits he has orchestrated attacks against fellow Republicans in an apparent power grab within county government and the local GOP.
The email was sent on December 3rd, only a few weeks after Layne had physically assaulted Republican St. Joseph County Councilman Dan Schaetzle during a party meeting on November 10th. The email was in regard to Schaetzle and issues with the County Council.
“Dan is not being honest. (He) is the last key problem area we currently have.” Layne wrote in his email, “My commitment was to help (GOP Chair) Jackie (Horvath) and the local GOP be successful until March. Primarily standing up an effective elections committee and dealing with the bad actors.”
Layne is currently being criminally charged with Battery for attacking Schaetzle. After a lengthy police investigation, the prosecutor’s office went forward with the charges against Layne earlier this month.
RNM reached out to Schaetzle for comment on the email communication by Layne, he responded via email with the following:
“In this email (sent by Layne to the donor), Mr. Layne states that he made a commitment to ‘..deal with bad actors.’ He identifies me as ‘..the last key problem…’ I am concerned as to what more he will do to ‘…deal with bad actors.'” Schaetzle wrote. “If they (Layne and his camp) ever expected me to be a thoughtless ‘yes-man’, they were sadly mistaken. That expectation was never present during my first eight-and-a-half years in the party and especially under the leadership of Zach Potts or Tyler Gillean. It should now be clear that I bow to no man (or woman) but only to Jesus Christ, my lord and savior.”
It’s important to note, Layne has a massive bunker on his multi-million dollar property near Potato Creek State park where he stores THOUSANDS of firearms, including M249 Squad Automatic Machine Guns, Barrett .50 cal sniper rifles and virtually any variation of handgun and rifle you can imagine. Many of the weapons he holds require a Federal Firearms License (FFL). RNM has been unable to find Layne listed on any FFL database.
RNM’s Clifton French saw the weapons cache for himself when Layne gave him a private tour in 2023. During that tour, Layne stated “I probably shouldn’t show you this,” as he pulled out what he claimed was a fully-automatic M249 belt-fed machine gun.
BACKGROUND ON PHYSICAL ATTACK
The criminal charges against Layne come nearly two months after Layne violently attacked Republican St. Joseph County Councilman Dan Schaetzle at a party meeting in November.
According to court records, the state filed the misdemeanor battery charges against Layne on January 3rd. A judge signed off on the case on Monday. The charges also come with a no-contact order, meaning Layne cannot be at any meetings in which Schaetzle attends. Layne is also on the St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission which holds its meetings at the County-City Building. It’s unclear how he’ll be able to perform any of his duties with the no-contact order in place.
RNM has reached out to Layne and St. Joseph County GOP Chair Jackie Horvath for comment. Neither have returned our messages.
THE INCIDENT
On November 10th, RNM broke the story about Vice Chair of the St. Joseph County Republican Party, Joe Layne, violently attacking Republican County Councilman Dan Schaetzle during the party’s monthly meeting. In what was supposed to be a celebration of GOP wins this election cycle, some party members and party leaders instead used it to attack fellow conservatives both verbally and physically.
According to 20 different witnesses who spoke to RNM, the incident started when County Councilwoman Amy Drake took to the podium during the meeting to lambast fellow Republicans who do not agree with her platform (which includes defunding the St. Joseph County Police Department). Drake took direct aim at Schaetzle, who worked diligently to make sure our county officers got the raises they deserve. According to witnesses, Schaetzle called out Drake during her speech, attempting to correct several lies she was telling the audience of GOP members.
Schaetzle then took to the podium, where he passionately defended himself and a large faction of the party who has not been happy with the direction of the GOP’s leadership. After two minutes, Schaetzle was told his time was up. Schaetzle told the GOP leadership team that he was going to continue. At that point, GOP Vice Chair Joe Layne stood up and ripped the microphone out of Schaetzle’s hand, breaking it. Schaetzle then turned to speak to the audience without the microphone. At that point, Layne physically shoved Schaetzle.
The incident was caught on camera by radical school group leader, Ashley Leader, and later posted online by radio host Casey Hendrickson who is attempting to justify the attack. That video can be seen below.
According to witnesses, a well-known local MMA fighter (who RNM will not name) jumped into the middle of the two men, telling Layne to back off as it appeared he was going to continue his physical assault. Schaetzle said a few more words before leaving.
“It all started because of Amy Drake.” One witness told RNM. “Everyone was stunned. We were supposed to be celebrating, uniting under the wins. Drake just wanted to fight.”
“Adults should be able to disagree without violence.” Another witness told RNM. “Joe (Layne) should resign. I hope he’s charged with a crime, he definitely committed one.”
Schaetzle suffered from back injury during the incident and was hospitalized for a short time.
Following the incident in November, St. Joseph County GOP Chairwoman Jackie Horvath attempted to defend Layne’s actions, sending an email out to party members downplaying the incident.
“In an attempt to manage the situation, the vice chair intervened by removing the microphone. This action was not appropriate for our setting, and we apologize for any discomfort it may have caused.” Horvath wrote. “Our focus now must be on fostering unity within our party to effectively serve our constituents.”
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