Dr. Mark Soto

WARSAW — The defense questioning of Warsaw Police Lt. Paul Heaton and testimonies from James Nathan McLaurin, Jacqueline Peters and Christian McCray ended Wednesday’s hearing in the trial against Dr. Mark Soto. The trial is being held in Kosciusko Circuit Court with Special Judge Stephen Bowers presiding.

Scott Lennox, defense counsel, focused his questions on Heaton’s knowledge of the Aryan Brotherhood in the county, phone calls he listened to regarding Kevin Bronson, involvement of McLaurin and Tyler Silveus, the threats and the money. Lennox asked Heaton if he was aware Soto had paid a large judgment against Bronson in Elkhart County, which he was not.

The lengthy questioning included if any of the calls he listed to pertained to Bronson telling Soto the Aryan Brotherhood was monitoring his phone calls and tapping his phone. While he did, Heaton noted checking into that area was not in his expertise and Soto’s electronic equipment was never checked for any tapping devices.

During the prosecutions final chance to question Heaton, a recap of the chart showing the capital and corporate funds for Young Dragon LLC and the withdrawals made by Bronson was clarified. It was noted Soto had access to all accounts, except Bronson’s personal account.

The remainder of the afternoon focused on testimony by McLaurin, pastor of Christ Covenant Church, Winona Lake. McLaurin testified how he came to know Soto and Bronson and their numerous meetings and communications. He also testified he was informed $36,000 was needed for Bronson’s monthly expenses and to secure a book and movie deal about his redemption from the Aryan Brotherhood. McLaurin was also told, by Soto, knowledge of Bronson’s relation with the organization would put him in danger.

The testimony dealt with seeing the “lock box” in Bronson’s possession containing detailed information about his relationship with the Aryan Brotherhood, various Social Security cards, name change information and federal documents. He was also told by Bronson at that time what would happen if he did anything against the Aryan Brotherhood – watching his family being murdered before he was killed.

McLaurin noted he secured the necessary funds, through his best and closest friend, Silveus, but became concerned when the operation began getting out of hand and the original amount kept increasing. He testified about the email asking to speak to “Sky” to make sure everyone was on the same page, when he was advised a group of Aryan Brotherhood members from Fort Wayne were on the way to his house. He testified how he got his family out and waited in fear the entire night. Additionally he stated Soto told him about the threats.

During the cross examination by Lennox, he sought to get the correct timeline of happenings and who and how the LLC was established, if he really believed in the threats and if Soto ever indicated he also felt threatened. To this he stated there was an indication at one point.

Lennox also questioned McLaurin about a party held at his home to introduce people to the movie and book. McLaurin stated he just hosted the event, Bronson invited people. Lennox further explored McLaurin’s testimony of who told him certain information and if he believed Soto was associated with the Aryan Brotherhood, which his response was he was led to believe that.

Brief testimony was then heard from Peters and McCray.

Peters was branch manager at First Source Bank East, Warsaw, at the time the accounts were set up for Young Dragon LLC. She verified the signature cards and explained the purpose behind the currency transaction report.

McCray testified of giving Soto more than $9,000 to help pay for damage to a vehicle Bronson had after being told the situation and about Bronson’s conversion.