WPD chief, detective say Soto was no victim

Warsaw police testified Wednesday that recorded  jail calls between Kevin Bronson and Dr. Mark Soto were one of the reasons they eventually began to view  Soto as an accomplice rather than a victim.

Police Chief Scott Whitaker and Lt. Paul Heaton took the stand Wednesday morning in the trial of Soto, who is charged with three counts of corrupt business influence and three counts of intimidation following a 2016 grand jury indictment.

Whitaker said he received an email from Jane Wear, who claimed Bronson was intimidating her son. Whitaker said he was familliar with Bronson because of his long criminal record. Bronson was known for threatening people for either money or use of vehicles, Whitaker said.

Soto was indicted alongside former Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine and Bronson.

Bronson pleaded guilty to one charge of corrupt business influence.

Rovenstine faced 10 felony charges in connection with Bronson and Soto. Rovenstine was convicted on a single charge of intimidation, based on a heated phone call with Heaton, and was sentenced to probation.

Bronson was arrested on  drug charges in April 2014, but was able to plea the charge down to a misdemeanor and served no jail time.

Whitaker said he received  many complaints about Bronson from people in the community and voiced his concerns to Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton.

In December 2014, Bronson was arrested again on a cocaine possession charge. Whitaker said he asked Heaton to listen in on Bronson’s jail calls. Whitaker said he grew concerned about “special privileges” Bronson was receiving while in jail, and took photographs of Bronson and Soto meeting unmonitored in the jail.

On Wednesday, Whitaker testified he was unfamiliar with jail rules.

Heaton testified the turning point in the investigation arrived while listening to a conversation between Soto and Bronson in which Soto  told Bronson that no one believed him or his Aryan Brotherhood stories and that he should do something to prove it.

At some point, Heaton believed he was not getting all the calls Bronson made from the jail.

Heaton testified he used a internet-based system to access the calls, but based on “gaps in conversations” and discussion, he realized Bronson was making calls on a unrecorded line from the jail. Heaton said Bronson would call Soto two or three times a day, and Soto was able to visit Bronson whenever Soto wished.

Heaton said the visits and the phone calls were part of the special privileges Bronson received.

Soto would call the jail staff and ask if he could come visit, and the jail staff would allow him to even during non-visiting hours.

Soto’s defense attorney, Scott Lennox, argued that there are no laws that require phone calls to be recorded or mandate visiting hours for inmates. Lennox also said the decisions to have the unrecorded contact were made by Rovenstine.

Heaton said the jail “never” refused to allow him to listen to phone calls prior to the Bronson investigation.

During Rovenstine’s sentencing, lawyers argued Rovenstine denied the phone calls based on legal advice he received on the matter.

Through the investigation, Heaton found a company called Young Dragon?Enterprises. The company had been set up by Soto and Bronson and local pastor Nate McLaurin. The company had two bank accounts – a corporate account and a capital account.

Heaton said most of  the money that was put into the capital account was eventually funneled to another account Bronson had access to.

When Lennox questioned Heaton, he admitted the only money Soto was paid from Young Dragon Enterprises was money he took as reimbursement for funds he paid to get the movie made.