St. Joseph County sheriff denies political allegations

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.– St. Joseph County’s outgoing Sheriff, Mike Grezgorek, spoke out about allegations that stemmed from the South Bend Tribune’s opinion piece on Wednesday.

Sheriff Grezgoreck denied the allegations that said he convinced Chuck Hurley to run as a third party candidate and essentially hand-pick his successor.

The press conference was held on Wednesday just after 5 p.m. and the sheriff said Chuck Hurley’s decision to run for sheriff was a collaborative effort.

Sheriff Grezgoreck told the public that he is not a politician and wants the best for St. Joseph County as a community.

The South Bend Tribune’s Executive Editor, Alan Achkar, released a statement following the press conference Wednesday evening:

"The South Bend Tribune editorial board firmly stands by its piece, which contained no factual errors. The editorial and its contents were not accurately portrayed at the sheriff's press conference. We urge community members to read the piece in today's newspaper or on southbendtribune.com to judge for themselves. Further, to correct another statement at the press conference, a Tribune reporter early Tuesday afternoon did indeed reach out to Sheriff Grzegorek for comment on Mr. Hurley's candidacy. A message at Sheriff Grzegorek's office was never returned."

ABC 57 did clarify with the Sheriff the attempts to make contact at the time as well, though he was out of the office.

Bill Redman was unable to respond to the press conference but his Charman Larry Catanzarite sent ABC 57 a statement:

"Mike Grzegorek's comments tonight were unfortunate and surprising, as they were the first time Bill Redman has heard these criticisms of his performance in his nearly 8 years of service under this administration. Regardless, Bill Redman is not interested in participating in any of these departmental politics. His focus remains solely on taking his message to the voters who will have the ultimate decision in the direction of building a strong Sheriff's department to support our community in the future."

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