St. Joseph County prosecutors say they’ve found the person who swatted County Council member Amy Drake last year. She’s a member of the county’s Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.
Police on Monday arrested 46-year-old Gloria Niedbalski of Mishawaka on felony identity deception and misdemeanor false informing charges. Court records say that on Dec. 9 Niedbalski called a Division of Child Services hotline and claimed to be a neighbor of Drake’s. She said Drake had left her children, ages 8 and 10, home alone.
Drake was, in fact, not home, but her husband was, as were her 17- and 23-year-old daughters. Police found this out when they and a DCS case manager came to the Drake home in Granger at 1:20 a.m. to check on the children’s welfare, as Niedbalski had requested.
Drake was at a county council meeting that lasted until 4 a.m. This was the meeting where the council denied a rezoning needed for a second large data center near New Carlisle. Drake voted against it.
But at the beginning of the meeting before the hours-long data center public hearing, Drake and the council’s four Republicans had voted against Niedbalski’s re-appointment to the county’s Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Republican Council President Dan Schaetzle and the council’s four Democrats voted for Niedbalski.
After Republican County Assessor Mike Castellon nominated Niedbalski to be re-appointed, Republican council member Andy Rutten said he had contacted her before the meeting to “see if her heart was in it,” and from her responses, Rutten decided he couldn’t support her re-appointment. Drake then nominated another Republican instead of Niedbalski.
But Schaetzle nominated Niedbalski and said she deserved some grace, despite being short with Rutten, since her home had recently burned down.
Court records say Drake told police Niedbalski, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for a Mishawaka Common Council seat in 2023, had in the past sent her emails disagreeing with her on various policies.
Drake declined to comment on Niedbalski’s arrest Monday.
