The following statement was issued by the current Washington Township Trustee (Decatur County) Beverly Rivera.
“Criminal charges were filed July 1 in Decatur County Court against Christian Rust, who was Washington Township Trustee in 2019-2022.
An investigation has been ongoing since January 2023. Our office has fully cooperated with the State board of Accounts, Indiana State Police and a special prosecutor appointed from Henry County. We will continue to cooperate with them and provide factual information pertinent to this case. We believe the facts of this case – those which can be proved by documents and files in our office, should be used to arrive at felony convictions for Rust for theft, destruction of documents and government property, non-payment of payroll tax withholding and failure to deliver public records and property to the newly elected trustee.
These criminal charges are in addition to the civil charges that were previously identified by the State Board of Accounts for dollar amounts owed to our township by both Rust and former clerk Charity Wilder.
Anyone looking for more information or would like to view our public financial records, please call our office at 812-663-5501.”
