Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger was wearing his judicial robe when he turned to Steven Duane Warren's parents and called their son a “piece of (expletive)” in another judge's Allen Superior courtroom in November, according to an arm of the Indiana Supreme Court that polices judges.

In Scheibenberger's mind, he had reason to be angry.

“He sold drugs to my son,” Scheibenberger said Tuesday. “My dead son.”

Now, Scheibenberger faces anywhere from a reprimand to disbarment by the Supreme Court for the comments he's accused of making during the 26-year-old's sentencing hearing on a gun crime, which include the judge saying Warren would “get his.”

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications on Tuesday charged Scheibenberger with four counts of misconduct stemming from the Nov. 30 incident. Scheibenberger has 20 days to respond in writing to the allegations if he chooses to do so. His son, 27-year-old Samuel Robert Scheibenberger, died from a cocaine overdose in August, according to the Allen County Coroner's Office.

Warren has never been convicted of a drug-related felony in Allen County, but he was arrested and charged in late 2002 with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and reckless possession of paraphernalia, charges that were later dropped.

According to court documents, he was to serve probation for a felony conviction of resisting arrest when Allen County Sheriff's officers showed up to search his home. They smelled burning marijuana in the living room, according to court documents.

The officers found a 10th of a gram of cocaine, 15 grams of marijuana, scales typically used to weigh drugs, a pipe used to smoke drugs, more than $1,100 cash, and ammunition. Warren denied ownership of everything despite the fact he lived alone. His probation on the resisting arrest conviction was revoked, but Allen County prosecutors in early 2003 dropped the drug charges.

Flash forward four years later, to November. Samuel Scheibenberger has been dead three months, and Warren is set to be sentenced to two years in prison for carrying a handgun without a license.

According to the judicial commission, Scheibenberger suspended his court session, walked to Judge Fran C. Gull's courtroom, sat in the gallery to watch Warren's hearing, and created a disturbance before lashing out at Warren and his parents.

“Upstanding citizen, my (expletive),” Scheibenberger said in reference to a comment made during the hearing, according to the commission.

Letters from Warren's mother and a high school pal submitted to Gull before the sentencing said he was “learning from his mistakes” and “Steven is the kind of person who, if given a chance, could be successful in numerous areas.”

A hearing on the charges against Scheibenberger will be held at a date to be determined before three Indiana judges, according to commission attorney Meg Babcock, who is effectively serving as the “prosecutor” in the case. Those judges will forward their findings to the state Supreme Court.

Though the judges can recommend what type of punishment - if any - should be handed down to Scheibenberger if they feel he is guilty of misconduct, it will ultimately be up to the Supreme Court to discipline him. Only one or two such cases are tried each year.

“It's a relatively rare event,” Babcock said. “We receive hundreds of complaints, but many the commission views don't spell out ethical misconduct.”

Babcock declined to say how the commission learned of the incident, but said it came to everyone's attention “pretty quickly.” The commission comprises three lawyers elected to it by other lawyers, three non-lawyers appointed by the governor and a chairman, Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard.

Scheibenberger, who was appointed by then-Gov. Evan Bayh in 1992, narrowly avoided formal disciplinary charges from the commission in 2002 when he inserted himself into a misdemeanor case involving charges against his son. With his son needing more time to prepare, Scheibenberger obtained the case file and made an entry for a continuance though he was not the judge for the case. The commission said Scheibenberger's actions warranted charges, but it publicly admonished him instead.

More trouble followed in 2003. A courthouse employee was suspended when she and one of her friends raised their blouses and flashed Scheibenberger at a downtown bar. Scheibenberger wadded up a dollar bill and tossed it at the women, upsetting his eight fellow Superior Court judges after he escaped disciplinary action.

Shortly afterward, the other judges agreed by a 6-2 vote to give Scheibenberger a choice: enter rehab for his drinking or they would file a complaint with the commission. Scheibenberger promptly checked himself into a Chicago-area hospital.

Warren is scheduled to be in court today to possibly have a hearing on his November sentence. Warren was allowed to enter the Allen County Sheriff's work-release program after being sentenced but violated many of the program's rules and had his probation revoked.