A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for one of the two men indicted along with former Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron?Rovenstine.
Kevin Bronson, 57, is facing three counts of corrupt business influence and seven counts of intimidation.
Bronson was scheduled to face a joint jury trial with friend and business partner Mark Soto on Aug 1.
At 1 p.m. Friday in?Elkhart, Bronson’s hearing is expected to take place. It is not yet known what Bronson will plea to at the hearing.
Police say Bronson and Soto used extortion, threats and violence to raise money for a book and movie deal about Bronson’s life.
Bronson, who has a long criminal history, claimed to covert to Christianity and began to raise money for his Hollywood projects and Bronson’s martial arts gym, Young Enterprises.
Warsaw Officer Paul Heaton, who attended the same church as Bronson, began to look in Bronson’s and Soto’s fundraising actives.
In December 2015, Bronson was arrested on a cocaine charge. The movie was never made and the gym went out of businessess.
Some of the charges against Bronson include threatening his attorney, David Baker, to provide free legal services and threatening Nate McLaurin for previously asking for contact information of Bronson’s superior in the Aryan Brotherhood.
McLaurin and his family had to move from their home in the middle of the night for their own safety, according to the affidavit.
The investigation was handed over to Indiana State Police and resulted in Soto, Bronson and Rovenstine being charged.
Rovenstine was charged with granting special privileges to Bronson while he was incarcerated in the Kosciusko County Jail.
All the charges connecting Bronson to Rovenstine were dropped.
Rovenstine pleaded guilty in April to a single felony charge of intimidation based on a heated phone call he had with Heaton. Rovenstine was sentenced in May to one year of probation.
Soto is still scheduled to face a jury trial on six felony counts related to the fundraising with Bronson.
His trial is scheduled for Aug. 1.
Prosecutors have indicated that they hope for a plea deal in that case as well, but will take the case to trial if necessary.
