St. Joseph County probate judge race upended by Zappia brothers' alleged altercation

GRANGER — With a little more than two months left before voters select a probate judge in St. Joseph County, one of the candidates had an alleged altercation with his brother.

Loris Zappia is a St. Joseph County deputy prosecutor and the Republican nominee for probate judge. He released a statement about his alleged assault against his brother, a current referee within the probate court, over a disagreement with his campaign for probate judge. That position operates at the Juvenile Justice Center.

Loris Zappia released a statement on his Facebook page on Aug. 11 and to The Tribune on Aug. 12 saying, "In keeping with my commitment to transparency and integrity, I want to acknowledge incidents that occurred on Friday outside of my control, aggressively orchestrated by my brother, a hostile surrogate of the Cichowicz campaign. This was an unfortunate private matter that my siblings and I will deal with as a family."

Loris Zappia, a Republican, is running against incumbent St. Joseph County Probate Court Judge Jason Cichowicz, a Democrat. Len Zappia, one of Loris' brothers, is a judicial officer who currently works under Cichowicz.

The St. Joseph County Police Department was called to a residence in the 15800 block of Amston Court around 6:38 p.m. Aug. 9 on the report of an assault. The 911 caller, who county police said was not at the scene when they arrived, said in a recorded dispatch call that he was told about the assault from "people that are important in this county that are afraid to call 911 themselves."

The caller told police the incident was between Loris Zappia, who has served for 23 years in problem-solving courts , which include the Drug Treatment Court and Veterans’ Court, and his brother Len.

If elected as probate judge, Loris would oversee the Juvenile Justice Center . The St. Joseph County Republican Party is calling for the resignation of the Cichowicz after Cyjarron Odynski, who was monitored through the JJC, escaped during an approved visit to a South Bend Cubs game and later allegedly killed 20-year-old Isaiah Walton-Davis . The St. Joseph County GOP believes the responsibility lies with Cichowicz, it said in a press release.

The St. Joseph County GOP said Walton-Davis' death could have been avoided if Cichowicz wasn't "distracted by the problems he created for himself," a reference to his 45-day suspension for improperly funneling money from a client's trust to pay for court projects.

A county police officer arrived at the residence at 6:47 p.m. and found no one at the home and no signs of a fight or forced entry, police said. The call was placed about 10 minutes after the caller received a call about the incident, he told police. The officer left after a few minutes after reaching the residence, police said.

"No incident report was completed and there is no body camera video from the officer," county police said in a statement to The Tribune. The incident was listed in police logs as "assault."

According to public court records, no arrest was made.

The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office released a statement on Aug. 13 saying it's receiving third- and fourth-hand reports about the alleged incident involving Loris.

"No complaint or investigation regarding Mr. Zappia has been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office by any law enforcement agency to review for possible criminal charges," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

A complaint or an investigation regarding a deputy prosecutor employed by St. Joseph County would need a referral for a special prosecutor for review, the office said. As of now, the prosecutor's office is working with St. Joseph County Human Resources to determine what steps, if any, should be made regarding Loris' employment, they said.

The Tribune did reach out to the St. Joseph County Human Resources deputy attorney for comment and has not yet received a response. A Tribune reporter did contact the St. Joseph County Probate Court to speak with Len Zappia. This story will be updated if he returns the call.

Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County probate judge race upended by Zappia brothers' alleged altercation