MEET MIKE

Mike is a Steuben County native and currently lives in Angola.  Mike was raised in Fremont and is a 1995 graduate of Fremont High School where he played basketball, ran track, and appeared in a school play or two. He is a member of North Eastern Lodge #210 F&AM located in Fremont, a member of the Fraternal Order of Police Pokagon Lodge #163, and a member of the Kiwanis Club of 101 Lakes Angola. Mike has been serving the citizens of Steuben County for over 25 years as a member of the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office.

Mike also served 17 years as a part-time Deputy Marshal for the Fremont Police Department. Mike started out working in the Steuben County Jail as a Jail Officer in 1998 before being hired as a Merit Deputy in 1999.  Mike spent 12 years working the streets of Steuben County as a patrol deputy.   

Nine of those 12 years, Mike served on the Sheriff’s Special Response Tactical Team, retiring as an Assistant Team Leader.  In 2011, Mike was promoted to Detective Sergeant and spent a total of 8 years in Investigations.  During that time, Mike was involved in a wide variety of cases that included everything from auto thefts to clandestine drug labs to homicides.  He also administered the Sheriff’s Sex & Violent Offender Registry.   

In 2016, Mike was promoted again to Detective First Sergeant and oversaw the Investigations Division. Mike continued holding Steuben County registered sex offenders accountable and had several cases against non-compliant offenders who fled the state of Indiana go federal, thanks to the great relationships Mike had cultivated with the US Marshals Service. 

Mike currently serves as the Chief Deputy Sheriff under Sheriff Robinson and has been in that position since 2019.  Mike oversees the day-to-day operations of the entire Sheriff’s Office as well as managing the Sheriff’s vehicle fleet and the fleet of RADAR Speed Signs posted in the county. 

Mike also serves on several committees, such as the Local Emergency Planning Committee, the Steuben County Government Employee Safety Committee, the Steuben County Child Fatality Review Team, and the Steuben County Child Protection Team, among others. Mike is also a past President & Treasurer of the Steuben County Deputies Association. In April of 2025, Mike was appointed to the Steuben County Council on Aging Board of Directors by Angola Mayor Dave Martin.

In May of 2022, Mike was tasked with implementing, coordinating, and overseeing the transitioning of the Steuben County Communications/E-911 center from the control of the Steuben County Board of Commissioners back to the control of the Sheriff. 

Mike has attended hundreds & hundreds of hours of leadership training, including the 254th session of the FBI National Academy and the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association Institute for Credible Leadership Development. Mike has years of leadership experience at the Sheriff’s Office, and is a firm supporter of the conservative values & principles of the Constitution, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

As a member of the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), Mike also believes that your Constitutionally elected Sheriff is and should be the firewall that protects every citizen in Steuben County from any unconstitutional government overreach or interference. 

WHY VOTE MEEKS FOR SHERIFF IN 2026?

WHY VOTE MEEKS FOR SHERIFF IN 2026?

MY MESSAGE

As a Republican candidate for your

Steuben - County - Constitutional - Sheriff

“Service - Community - Constitution - Strength”

  • I believe service is an extremely important part of holding the office of Sheriff. I am committed and dedicated to serving the citizens of Steuben County as well as all the members of the Sheriff’s Office. I will strive to be of service to all of county government and to my fellow elected officials, as well as all the other law enforcement and public safety agencies within Steuben County. As your Constitutionally elected Sheriff, I will serve as the firewall that protects you, the citizens of Steuben County, from any unconstitutional state or federal government overreach or interference.  

  • As your Sheriff, I will be the “keeper of the county”, and the county is our community. I will continue to facilitate current community outreach and engagement programs as well as look for ways to improve or expand on those programs. I will continue to keep our community as safe as possible by proactive and community-oriented policing, and problem-solving strategies. I will continue holding all Steuben County registered sex or violent offenders accountable. I am also committed to running and maintaining a safe and efficient county jail in addition to providing safe, sound, and efficient courthouse security. I will continue and grow the great relationships already established with our schools. There’s nothing more important to our community than the safety of our children. 

  • I’m a firm supporter of the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Indiana. As your Sheriff, I will keep my office Constitutional for the People. I will uphold and defend your unalienable rights given by God, not by the government, and guaranteed by our Constitution. I’m also committed to law & order and to serving and protecting the citizens of Steuben County.

  • It takes a lot of strength to be an effective Sheriff. Strength in leadership, strength in character, and strength in integrity. Courage is also needed to go along with strength. You need strength and courage to stand up for the right thing when it’s not the popular thing, to hold people accountable, to make the tough decisions when it matters most, and to take responsibility when things don’t go right. I’ve spent over 25 years as a Steuben County Sheriff’s deputy building my strength and my courage to be your Steuben County Sheriff.  

Qualifications, Experience, & Accomplishments

Mike has worked for nearly 30 years at the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office.  He has held nearly every position from Confinement Officer to his current position of Chief Deputy Sheriff.  He was a patrol deputy for 12 years, a Special Response Tactical Team member for 9 years, and a detective for 8 years.  He has been in a leadership role for over 12 years.  Mike is the only candidate with actual real-world experience dealing with the various Sheriff’s administration issues, including budgets, personnel, jail operations, and the vehicle fleet.    

Mike also has experience obtaining and administering state and federal grants for equipment as well as for additional personnel.  Mike is the only candidate with experience in preparing and making presentations to the Steuben County Board of Commissioners and the Steuben County Council.  Serving as the Chief Deputy has given Mike unique experiences and insights into the office of Sheriff that no other candidate has.  

During Mike’s career at the Sheriff’s Office, he has been preparing to serve as your Sheriff by taking every opportunity possible to gain knowledge and qualifications through training, along with his experience.  Over the years, Mike has attended several leadership courses, including, most notably, the FBI National Academy and the Institute for Credible Leadership Development and Deliberate & Authentic Leadership - The West Point Way provided through the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association (ISA).   

Mike also has the distinction of being the only candidate who has attended the ISA’s New Sheriffs School.  This training gives Mike another unique insight like no other, into what it takes to serve as the Constitutionally elected Sheriff of Steuben County.  Mike also spends time studying the Constitution and the history of our country’s founding documents, which greatly influenced how the United States Constitution came to be.  

Mike has been able to achieve some great accomplishments during his time with the Sheriff’s Office.  Mike was able to achieve and maintain a nearly 100% compliance rate during the time he administered the Sex & Violent Offender Registry. A compliance rate which still continues today under Mike’s leadership.  That accomplishment came in handy when one non-compliant offender fled the area and Mike was able to quickly get an arrest warrant issued and locate the offender, who had already befriended another child. This was thanks to the great working relationships Mike has with the Prosecutor’s Office and the US Marshals Service.     

Another accomplishment worth mentioning was the task of transitioning the county’s E-911 center from the control of the Steuben County Board of Commissioners back to the control of the Sheriff in 2022.  By the time the Sheriff was contacted, of the 14 employees the center was budgeted for, only 3 dispatchers and the Assistant Communications Director were left to provide 24/7 emergency dispatch service.  Mike was put in charge of bringing the 911 center back under the Sheriff and getting everything back up to par.  

With the help of a great team and Mike’s decisive leadership, Mike was able to remedy the immediate pressing issues and get the center back to full staff with a combination of re-hires and new hires in just over 2 months time.  Mike was also instrumental in developing and implementing a new policy manual for the Sheriff’s Office as well as designing and developing the current Steuben County Sheriff’s smartphone application.

In 2024, Mike coordinated a project to transition the 3 rural Township Volunteer Fire Departments (Salem Twp/Steuben Twp / Metz) and the 4 Municipal Fire Departments (Fremont/ Orland/Hamilton/Ashley-Hudson) in the county all to an 800 MHz paging system. Mike collaborated with all of the Fire Chiefs involved in the project as well as the Communications/E911 Director, and representatives from the Steuben County Council. Because of the efforts of all involved, funding was able to be secured by the Sheriff and enough new pagers were able to be purchased so every fire department could switch over form the old outdated VHF paging system to the current 800 MHz system at the same time.

This also made paging the fire departments from Communications more effective and efficient, which is a benefit to every citizen in the county. The new paging system allows for multiple departments to be paged at once and also allows responding fire personnel to be able to hear the 800 MHz radio traffic on the pager in order to get time sensitive updated information.