One of five people charged with fraud in connection to the 2022 Goshen school board elections is pleading guilty.
Current school board member Jose Elizalde last week filed paperwork to admit to one felony charge of filing a fraudulent report. If a judge accepts the deal, Elizalde would receive one year on probation and another misdemeanor charge would be dismissed.
Elizalde is one of five people charged with fraud in connection to a campaign mailer in 2022 ahead of the Goshen School Board elections. The mailer denounced a conservative slate of candidates backed by the far-right group Purple for Parents and instead endorsed Elizalde, Mario Garber, Roger Nafziger and Andrea Johnson.
The group of four candidates wrote on campaign finance forms that former Goshen mayor and then-school board member Alan Kauffman paid for the mailer, but the county’s election board found that nearly 30 people raised over $11,000 for the mailer and gave it to Kauffman who then donated it to the candidates. Elizalde, Garber and Nafziger were elected to the school board in that election. They, along with Kauffman and Johnson, were all charged with one felony count of filing a fraudulent report.
Elizalde declined to comment on the plea deal.
Criminal cases are ongoing against the other four people charged. All five have previously been fined by the county's election board separate from the criminal charges. Kauffman was on the school board in February when the charges were filed, but has since resigned, saying health issues have prevented him from serving in that role.
