An Indiana House of Representatives candidate has been arrested on the eve of the election for violating a protection order.
Republican delegate for the 26th House District Jim Schenke was booked into Tippecanoe County Jail on a preliminary charge of invasion of privacy.
He is accused of commenting on the Facebook post of a person who has a protection order against him.
Police received a call about the incident at 9.30pm on Sunday and Schenke, 57, was arrested at his Wabash Township home the next day.
The challenger for West Lafayette currently has two protection orders against him placed by a local attorney and their staff.
The politician placed one against a person living in his neighborhood.
He was booked into jail at 6.10am on Monday morning, but no longer appears on the inmate roster.
Schenke took to Facebook to deny the allegations, stating that he was the victim in the situation.
‘For anyone who cares about honesty I have been accused of violating a protective order,’ Schenke said.
‘In truth I have a protective order against the sociopath that has been stalking and menacing me for months.’
He likened the individual concerned to Michael Keaton’s psychotic, con-artist character in the 1990 movie Pacific Heights.
Schenke said the individual is, ‘a drunk angry pagan transgender activist who became insanely convinced that I wanted to kill his child who imagines himself some sort of caped Avenger with a license to stalk and menace those he hates.’
Tippecanoe County Chief Deputy Terry Ruley said there was probable cause to arrest Schenke for violating the protection order.
The incident is the latest scandal to hit the embattled politician after he was accused of driving his campaign motorhome into a light post while uninsured.
However, the charge was dropped on October 22.
He still faces another civil charge from the Tippecanoe County Election Board for allegedly failing to include adequate political disclaimers in his campaign adverts.
Schenke is campaiging to unseat Democrat Chris Campbell. If he is successful, he will become the first Republican house member for the district since 2018.
Chief Deputy Ruley said that Schenke had been released from jail after posting bonf.
‘The sheriffs office received a complaint from the other party on Sunday evening at approximately 8:35 PM stating that Schenke allegedly violated the order of protection by communicating to them through social media. What that verbiage was I have not seen nor heard.
‘He was booked into the Tippecanoe county jail Monday morning at 6:10 AM. He bonded out at 6:14 pm Monday evening after posting bond.’