Charges against former South Bend candidate dropped after alleged victim went missing

SOUTH BEND — The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office dropped charges of domestic battery against a former South Bend council candidate on Wednesday because the alleged victim, his teenage daughter, stopped communicating with prosecutors and was briefly considered a runaway, according to a new court filing.

A motion to dismiss filed Thursday reveals that former South Bend Common Council candidate Roosevelt Stewart's 16-year-old daughter, whom he is alleged to have punched and choked in a dispute last August, was considered a runaway as of June 12.

A South Bend Police Department spokeswoman says the missing person report was canceled July 4, after the girl was found. Police must lay eyes on a missing person to dismiss such cases.

But a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office says the county "had no knowledge of the victim's whereabouts when we dismissed the case" on Wednesday. The written motion to dismiss filed Thursday said the child's location also remained unknown to the Department of Child Services , the state agency that's involved in cases where children may have been abused.

Stewart was not exonerated Wednesday. Judge Elizabeth Hurley dismissed the charges without prejudice, a distinction that means prosecutors could still file new charges. The decision followed a pre-trial conference Wednesday morning involving Anna Samland, a deputy prosecuting attorney for the county, and Stewart's defense attorney, Tom Dixon.

"Should the Department of Child Services locate the victim and the victim wishes to cooperate with the State," the prosecutor's motion to dismiss states, "the State will consider refiling charges."

SBPD officers said they found Stewart’s daughter with a swollen upper lip and blood dripping from her nose when they responded to a call at the family’s home on Aug. 14, 2023, according to a probable cause affidavit.

At the hospital, the girl reportedly told police that she had refused to hand over her father’s car keys, believing he was too drunk to drive. She told police that in retaliation Stewart took her to the ground and began punching her in the face and choking her with both hands. She said she escaped from his grip and called for help.

Stewart continued his campaign despite the allegations, which he denies, but lost to Democrat Ophelia Gooden-Rodgers in November, garnering only 17% of the vote in his bid to represent the city's 2nd District. Democrats won all nine Common Council seats, the mayor's office and the city clerk's office.

Speaking to The Tribune on Thursday morning, before the prosecutor's office had filed its formal motion to dismiss, Stewart did not indicate that his daughter had been missing. He said the two of them would go through counseling, seeming to indicate he was in contact with her.

He did not answer a phone call or a text message sent Thursday afternoon asking for comment on why she was considered a runaway in the prosecutor's new filing.

Stewart had been under a court order not to contact his daughter since he was arrested and released on bail last August. The judge canceled that order Wednesday.

Regardless, during an October campaign event Stewart stood by a girl he introduced to a reporter as one of his daughters. The girl introduced herself using the name listed in court documents of the daughter who said Stewart assaulted her.

Asked if he had violated his no-contact order the night of that event, Stewart said no; he was with a different child, he claimed. But Stewart did not correct the girl when she gave her name as that of the alleged victim.

Stewart said Thursday that his daughter had wrongly accused him of abuse. He implied that she was trying to leverage law enforcement against him in rebellion against his parenting style.

"I believe that a molehill," he said, "can get turned into a mountain."

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Charges against former South Bend candidate dropped after alleged victim went missing