Kelly Prater

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Kelly Prater, known by a number of people in the community as KP, is the sixth person to file his candidacy for the nomination as sheriff during the Republican Caucus on Wednesday, June 12.

Prater was born and raised in Kosciusko County  and graduated from Warsaw High School. He has been married for 18 years to his wife Jen, and they have two children.

Prater’s past work experience has included 10 years in sales, finance, and management.

Since 2003, he has worked for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. During that time he worked 10 years in the county jail as a jail officer. Along with my regular duties as a jail officer, Prater was also responsible for the inmate classification system in the county jail, as well as being responsible for all of the Department of Correction inmate paperwork and billing.

“I’m positive that any sheriff in the state would say that the county jail is the biggest liability for any sheriff’s department,” said Prater. “With my past experience and knowledge of the jail system, I feel the community and staff members of the sheriff’s department would benefit with me becoming sheriff.”

Prater also worked over three years as a court security officer, during which time he worked closely with the prosecutor, child support office, clerk’s office, probation department and the court systems. “I have a great relationship with each of these departments and I’m confident that each would give positive feedback as to the job I performed and my strong worth ethic. I was also a part time school resource officer for the Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation.”

Prater is currently the assistant director at the Kosciusko County Work Release Center.

“If I am appointed as Sheriff of Kosciusko County, I promise to bring not only my experience, but my enthusiasm and hard work ethic to the job. I believe that enthusiasm and hard work are beneficial to any type of job, especially for a job that involves so much interaction with the community.

“Regardless of the job I have had in the past, as well as in the present, I always do my best to lead by example,” said Prater.