A history of corruption in government in Northwest Indiana continues

"Taxpayers have been again ripped off by a Calumet Township trustee," U.S. District Court Judge Joseph VanBokkelen said Wednesday at Elgin's sentencing.

"It is imperative this sentence be a message to others," the judge said, adding others who "put the arm" on their employees for contributions can also expect prison.

Elgin, who sat in a wheelchair following recent back surgery, apologized to her family, friends and Calumet Township residents for "my wrongdoing. I take full responsibility. I ask complete forgiveness. I made a huge mistake."

Kevin E. Milner, Elgin's defense attorney, argued she should spend no more than six months in prison and the rest of her time in some form of lesser detention, but Van Bokkelen expressed his frustration with a line of public officials who see their office as political spoils and act as if the public is "lucky to have them as an officeholder."

The judge ordered Elgin to report to prison no later than Aug. 15. She will be under federal supervision one year following her release from prison. Her felony conviction disqualifies her for future public office.

He ordered her to pay $15,000 in restitution to Calumet Township government and $6,311 to the IRS for failing to pay her 2013 income taxes.

Elgin was the Calumet Township trustee from 2003 until her defeat in 2014.

She ran the largest township office in Northwest Indiana and employed about 200 workers who distributed assistance to Gary's poorest residents.

The judge said Elgin may have started with the intent to help the state's neediest residents, but as time went on, "she quite simply lost her moral compass."

The FBI uncovered evidence Elgin believed her township employees owed her political support. She directed her administrative staff to distribute her political fundraising tickets to employees and keep track of their ticket sales.

Van Bokkelen said Elgin took office with the promise to do away with the "abhorrent 2 percent club" where public employees had 2 percent of their salary diverted to the officeholder's campaign fund. "But she replaced it with the equally deplorable scheme."

He said the evidence proved she pressured employees to buy tickets to her three annual fundraisers. "They were frequently under obligation and immense pressure," the judge said, adding that one man working for the township as a janitor was forced to go on an installment to donate all that Elgin demanded.

The judge said township employees could lose job privileges and even more pressure from Elgin's management if they declined tickets.  

The government said employees were expected to buy the tickets with their own money if they couldn't sell them as well as take public time to prepare her fundraising event.

Federal prosecutors said Elgin played on her employees' job security fears because she had been laying them off because of declining property tax revenues.

"Public corruption cannot and will not be tolerated at any level," said U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II in a news release Wednesday.  "Today’s sentence of imprisonment should send a strong message of deterrence.  Citizens expect and deserve officials to act in the best interest of the public, free from self-dealing and illegal self-enrichment.  My office, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to pursue matters involving public corruption.  I encourage anyone with information concerning corrupt public officials to contact my office or the FBI."  

Van Bokkelen said, "This was not a one-time mistake, but crimes over an extended period of time."

A federal grand jury in December 2014 indicted Elgin, Steven Hunter, her son and head of the township's information services and technology office, Ethel Shelton, Elgin's secretary, and Alex Wheeler, a township department head.

She and her son pleaded guilty in May 2017 under agreements in which they avoided the maximum penalty under law — 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Elgin not only admitted to wire fraud but also failed to file her 2013 federal tax return.

A U.S. District Court jury last month convicted Shelton and acquitted Wheeler of public corruption charges.

Hunter, who was in court with several other Elgin family members and friends, is scheduled to be sentenced himself June 19.

No sentencing date has been set for Shelton, whose attorney is petitioning the court to overturn her guilty verdict.

The judge cited earlier cases of public officials profiting from the abuse of their office, including former Gary City Clerk Katie Hall, former Calumet Township Trustee Dozier T. Allen Jr. and former Lake County Surveyor George Van Til.

Katie Hall, also a former U.S. Congresswoman, and her daughter, Junifer, her chief deputy city clerk, were convicted 15 years ago of extorting money from her employees to pay for her elections. Junifer Hall was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Katie Hall was released on probation.

Allen was sentenced eight years ago to 18 months for stealing $143,000 from a government grant given Calumet Township.

Van Til was sentenced to 18 months almost five years ago for directing some employees of the county surveyor’s office to engage in political campaign work for him while on the county’s public payroll and using county government equipment to engage in political activity.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson said Elgin was extorting money from her employees about the same time Allen, her predecessor, was being tried and sentenced for his crime. He said the only deterrence that created was for Elgin to have her employees sign a document that they couldn't do politics on public time to cover herself if they were caught following her orders to campaign for her.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John E. Martin arraigned Murchek, 57, of Schererville on the felony, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was freed on bond.

Although Murchek pleaded not guilty Friday, attorney Caitlin Padula, who represented Murchek in court, said Murchek already has signed a plea agreement admitting he lied to FBI agents Nov. 14, 2016, when he denied receiving an illegal campaign contribution from an undercover FBI informant.

The agreement, made public Friday, states Murchek has provided enough assistance to federal authorities investigating his misconduct to induce the government to recommend he receive the minimum sentence under federal guidelines and a fine of only $3,500.

His potential sentence won't be calculated until after he formally pleads guilty before U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody. No date is set for that plea.

Murchek rose in the ranks of county police to third-in-command as deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff's office between 2011 and last fall under former Sheriff John Buncich.

Murchek also has been president of the Northern Indiana Area Labor Federation and the Lake County Police Association Local 72.

The beginning of the end

Murchek's since abandoned plans to run for Lake County sheriff in next month's Democratic party primary election brought about his downfall.

The indictment alleges Murchek began asking for campaign financial support in the fall of 2015 from Willie Szarmach, owner of CSA Towing in Lake Station, and Scott Jurgensen, owner of Samson’s Towing in Merrillville.

Unknown to Murchek or Szarmach, Jurgensen was recording their conversations. He was an undercover informant who had been helping the FBI uncover bribery among towing firms doing business with area police and politicians since 2013.

The indictment alleges Murchek again met with the two towing owners in June 2016 to explain how they could disguise campaign contributions to him in the name of other people to avoid the maximum limit for business corporations, a practice the FBI calls a structured donation.

On Sept. 23, 2016, Jurgensen gave Murchek a $1,000 contribution in the name of the towing business and a $500 check illegally structured to look like a separate contribution from one of his towing employees. Jurgensen told Murchek he was the source of the money for both checks.

Four days after the FBI raided former Sheriff John Buncich's home and office Nov. 10, 2016, for evidence of illegal contributions from towing firms, FBI agents questioned Murchek about whether he received a structured contribution from Jurgensen.

Murchek said he didn't, but now admits his denial was a lie.

U.S. Marshals escorted Murchek into the U.S. District courtroom early Friday in civilian clothing. He answered the magistrate's questions and acknowledged he had turned over his passport and that he cannot possess any firearms in his home while free on bond.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II issued a statement early Friday that public corruption is a priority for his office.

"Mr. Murchek lied to FBI agents who sought truthful information from him in connection with what was then an ongoing public corruption investigation of which he was aware. Mr. Murchek did so purely to protect his self-interest and conceal his criminal conduct from the FBI," Kirsch said.

"Mr. Murchek was a police officer, sworn to uphold the law, at the time he told the lies, making his conduct particularly egregious."

Investigation has long reach

The federal investigation into the Lake County Sheriff's Department has swept up a number of local government figures, including in neighboring Porter County, and is expected to claim more in the near future. Rumors abounded Thursday that other figures under Buncich's administration and municipal officials who controlled towing would be next.

Timothy Downs, who was second-in-command under Buncich, pleaded guilty Dec. 16, 2016, to cheating the public of honest government services by using his authority within the department to do political fundraising for Buncich while he was on duty and using his publicly provided police car.

Downs is still awaiting sentencing.

Portage Mayor James E. Snyder and John Cortina, owner of a Portage towing firm, are now set to stand trial June 4 in U.S. District Court — Snyder for allegedly soliciting and receiving $12,000 in exchange for a Portage towing contract, and Cortina for allegedly offering the money. They are pleading not guilty.

Tom Goralczyk, a former Merrillville town councilman, pleaded guilty in January to accepting bribes — a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 2008 Ford Focus — in return for promises of a lucrative contract to Jurgensen, the undercover FBI informant. Goralczyk is awaiting sentencing May 16.

A U.S. District Court jury last August found Buncich guilty of soliciting and accepting campaign contributions from Szarmach and Jurgensen in return for giving them more lucrative towing work.

Buncich is serving a 188-month prison term, currently at a federal secure medical facility in Springfield, Missouri.

Last fall, Democratic precinct committee members selected as the new sheriff Oscar Martinez, who demoted Murchek to a deputy patrol commander.

Martinez said Friday the alleged crimes that led to Murchek's indictment occurred before his administration, but they were of great concern to him.

"Since becoming Lake County sheriff, I have done my best to set a high bar and a good example for the men and women of this department," he said.

U.S. District Court Judge James Moody refused the usual courtesy to public corruption figures, the freedom to report directly to his federal penitentiary at a later date.

Moody said the embarrassment Buncich caused to his police department and the harm he caused to Lake County's reputation in the state was staggering and denounced Buncich's abuse of power for self-enrichment and his "blind obedience to the political cult. Shame on you."

Buncich's voice was reduced to a whisper after learning of his sentence. He only had time to briefly look back to the court audience, which contained a number of his supporters, before court security officers led Buncich in restraints out of the court and into a holding cell.

The court also imposed a $250,000 fine on Buncich.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II said his office requested Buncich be detained immediately for fear he would flee to avoid having to serve such a lengthy sentence. Kirsch said there was evidence of large amounts of "unexplained cash" associated with Buncich's bank accounts.

Truitt said it was ridiculous to believe a man of Buncich's age and poor finances would be able to live long on the run. Truitt said his client will appeal the conviction and sentence within weeks.

What's next?

Buncich likely would spend the next 45 to 60 days at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center until he is transferred to a federal penitentiary. Truitt said Buncich preferred to spend his sentence at a federal camp in Yankton, South Dakota.

"This is the darkest day of my life," Buncich told the judge earlier in the six-hour sentencing hearing. Nevertheless, he said he was proud of his career and that he brought more minority police officers and civilian employees into the department than any previous sheriff.

The judge said he was struck by Buncich's almost complete lack of remorse, as was Kirsch, who said he is forming a new task force "to root out public corruption wherever it exists in the Northern District of Indiana."

Kirsch declined to comment on who might be indicted next, although testimony by FBI Agent Nathan Holbrook during the sentencing hearing hinted the towing investigation extended beyond the Sheriff's Department to the towns of Merrillville and Schererville.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson reminded the court of evidence during Buncich's trial in August that the sheriff received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal payments from William Szarmach, a Lake Station towing firm owner and longtime Buncich associate, and undercover government informant Scott Jurgensen, owner of Samson's Towing of Merrillville, between 2014 and 2016.

Buncich found guilty of bribery

A jury last August found Buncich guilty of bribery counts on evidence the payments from Szarmach and Jurgensen amounted to bribes because they were made on condition Buncich provide them the choicest towing districts, and that Buncich delivered.

Prosecutors said the bribery took place under the cover of campaign fundraising. Buncich was elected sheriff in 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014, and named chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party in 2014.

A federal grand jury indicted Buncich, Timothy Downs, Buncich's second-in-command at the time, and Szarmach in November 2016. Downs later revealed he had become a cooperating government witness, as did Szarmach eventually. Both have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing themselves.

The government equipped Jurgensen with audio and video equipment that recorded payments. The evidence was used by the government to win its conviction of Buncich, who was forced from office by the guilty verdict.

Buncich told the court he worked 70-hour weeks to ensure public safety as well as rehabilitate the County Jail, which was under federal mandate to correct nearly 100 deficiencies in inmate medical and mental health care.

But Benson presented evidence that Buncich was so obsessed with receiving bribes from towing firms that he directed his gang unit to put off their regular duties to ticket more cars for towing.

Holbrook said the department was receiving complaints from the public about their cars being towed for minor infractions and costing their owners hundreds of dollars to recover their vehicles. Holbrook said the joke around the Sheriff's Department was they had become the "towing police."

Benson said Buncich's list of approved towing firms were all political contributors, and he considered those who didn't buy fundraising tickets, or who contributed to his political opponents, to be unfriendly and unworthy of county business.

Truitt argued Buncich didn't feel remorse, because he still doesn't believe he did anything wrong. He said Buncich only engaged in political fundraising like any other local elected official and had cars towed for legitimate reasons.

The guilty verdict in August forced Buncich from office. One of his political opponents, Oscar Martinez Jr., now occupies Buncich's old office. The Lake County Board of Commissioners has taken control of awarding towing contracts away from the Sheriff's Department.

A date for a plea hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Goralczyk, contacted at his home in Merrillville, declined to comment. 

Merrillville Town Council President Richard Hardaway said his heart goes out to Goralczyk's family.

Hardaway said he worked with Goralczyk on the council for eight years, and he had believed the former councilman was beyond reproach. 

"It's another tough day for the town of Merrillville," Hardaway said.

Goralczyk admitted in the plea agreement he accepted two vehicles from a witness cooperating with the FBI on the promise he would use his influence as a councilman to steer the town's towing contract to the informant's towing company.

The bribes were made between February 2013 and August 2014, the agreement states. He accepted a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee from the informant for $400, when he knew the vehicle's value exceeded $2,500.

He also accepted a 2008 Ford Focus, valued at more than $5,000, for which he paid nothing, the agreement states. He also was provided four camper tires and free storage for a personal motorcycle as part of the deal. 

The former councilman attempted to hide the bribes by presenting false bills of sale to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles representing he paid $1,000 for the Jeep Cherokee, and $2,750 for the Ford Focus, the agreement states.

Goralczyk agrees to forfeit $7,500 before sentencing as part of the plea deal.

“Public officials, like Mr. Goralczyk, elected and entrusted to do the public's work, are required to do that work free from self-dealing and graft,” U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II said Friday in a statement. “This is not optional. The public demands and is, in fact, entitled to honest public servants.”

Goralczyk was first elected as a Merrillville town councilman in 2007 and took office in January 2008. He was re-elected in 2011 and began his second term as 4th Ward councilman in January 2012.

He served as president of the Town Council in 2011 and 2015.

He also held various other positions on the Merrillville Redevelopment Commission, Lake County Solid Waste Management Board and the governing board of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, according to the agreement. 

The investigation into Goralczyk was first revealed in August at the trial of former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, who was convicted of wire fraud and bribery for taking cash bribes to steer the county's towing work to favored companies. 

Nathan Holbrook, an FBI special agent, testified Aug. 8 at trial the investigation into Buncich began initially with an investigation in 2012 into whether Scott Jurgensen, who was working undercover for the FBI, bribed Goralczyk to get towing work from the town.  

Jurgensen, owner of Samson's Towing, had complained to the FBI special agent he couldn't get towing work because he refused to pay bribes.

Hunter's plea eliminates the need for a trial that had been scheduled this week. It comes three days after his mother pleaded guilty to her own role in the public corruption scandal. Elgin came to the courtroom Thursday to watch her son's guilty plea. 

Hunter had been scheduled in court Monday too, but instead he was locked into federal custody after testing positive for drugs for the third time while on pre-trial release. He is expected to remain there until his sentencing Sept. 21.

That drug violation also hardened the terms of his potential sentence since the U.S. Attorney's office no longer will recommend he receive a reduction in his potential prison term.

He faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison, but the government has agreed to recommend he serve the minimum prison term under the federal guidelines.

Two other co-defendants in the case, Elgin's former secretary, Ethel Shelton, and Alex Wheeler, Elgin's former campaign manager, are maintaining their not guilty pleas and will be scheduled for trial at a later date.

Hunter served as his mother's information systems and technology boss.

The government said Hunter was adept at distributing his mother's campaign fundraising tickets to employees who had two choices, sell them or buy them with their own funds. That scheme yielded about 1 percent of Elgin's township's payroll.

Hunter said he also did other political work on public time.

The government estimates that illegal activity cost township taxpayers and residents between $15,000 and $40,000 during Elgin's administration from 2003 to 2014.

What is clear is that city officials needed to build more public housing to keep millions of dollars in federal urban renewal money flowing into East Chicago, and industrial sites were not off limits.

Data released last summer showing lead concentrations of up to 237 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s allowable limit for residential use in the soil at the complex have raised serious questions about why the complex was built at all on the former Anaconda factory site at East 151st Street and McCook Avenue. More than 1,000 residents at the complex, including some 680 children, have been ordered to relocate.

The future also remains uncertain for the hundreds of residents who own homes in the middle and eastern parts of the Calumet neighborhood, many of whom face health problems and the possibility of falling property values.

The EPA last summer began a cleanup in those sections of the neighborhood, which were built in the shadow of industries that started operations as long as 100 years ago.

$126,000 in bribes alleged

John B. Nicosia ranked urban renewal among his top priorities during his 1963 campaign for mayor, but by 1969 — after criticizing the slow pace of redevelopment — his administration ended a 15-year relationship with a nonprofit foundation established to oversee the program.

The nonprofit Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation continued working on housing plans after the split, but the city charted a new course.

Part of that course, with regard to construction of public housing, was fraught with corruption, Lesniak testified at the 1976 trial of West Calumet Housing Complex builders Lawrence Bursten and Solomon Seidel.

Lesniak first discussed specific payoff amounts for the West Calumet Housing Complex contract with the East Chicago Development Corp. in December 1969. Bursten was a partner in the company at the time, and Seidel became a partner in 1970, records show.

Lesniak testified that Nicosia in December 1969 arranged for a $60,000 kickback from the builders, and asked Lesniak to act as a conduit for the payoff. Nicosia met the builders through a Milwaukee businessman involved in urban renewal. 

After discussing the $60,000 payoff with then-City Attorney Jay Given, Lesniak and Given agreed Lesniak should go back to the builders to ask for an additional $40,000, according to a trial transcript. Given urged Lesniak to seek the additional money, because Given feared Nicosia wouldn’t give him his “fair share” of the $60,000 payoff, Lesniak testified.

The builders paid $20,000 of the agreed-on $100,000 payoff in cash in May 1970, a month before the East Chicago Housing Authority, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and East Chicago Development Corp. signed a contract for the West Calumet project, Lesniak alleged. Construction began that fall.

Lesniak testified he divided $8,000 from that first payment between himself and Given, and gave the remaining $12,000 — $4,000 each for himself, then-City Controller Robert Pastrick and Given — to an associate to start a travel agency called Travel Associates. Lesniak said Given and Pastrick knew it was bribe money.

Nicosia, Given and Pastrick all took the stand and said they neither discussed soliciting bribes with Lesniak, nor took any money from him. Given admitted he owned 50 percent of Travel Associates, and Pastrick admitted he initially was listed as an officer of the company. Both denied taking any money out of the business.

Lesniak said he received the rest of the $100,000 cash bribe in seven more payments, and went back to Bursten and Seidel two more times in 1971 to secure another $26,000 in kickbacks for himself.

He also testified he took a $5,000 bribe on behalf of himself and Given for steering a contract to demolish the abandoned factory buildings at the West Calumet site.

Jack Slaboski, one of the owners of Industrial Development Corp., told the jury he didn’t pay Lesniak bribes for the demolition contract. However, Slaboski did offer a description of the site.

“Our contract read we were to demolish everything that was visible, and as fate would have it, we were digging through and we came across, in the dirt, we came across a stone slab that was 6 feet deep, I don’t know how big around, 20 feet across, it ran 200 feet in one direction.

“It was an old lead plant, somebody said —,” he continued, before U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp cut him off by saying, “Whoa. Whoa. Let’s get on with the lawsuit.”

Housing plans speed up

The site of the West Calumet Complex had been eyed for public housing perhaps as early as 1963, Nicosia’s first year in office, according to Purdue-Calumet Development Foundation records.

In addition to Indiana Harbor, the foundation had set its sights on eliminating blight in West Calumet and planned about 50 units of nonprofit or public housing at the site of the old Garfield School, according to the foundation’s annual reports. A fire in 1959 destroyed Garfield School, and the city anticipated counting the cost of the new Carrie Gosch School, three blocks to the west, toward its required one-third share of urban renewal funding for the neighborhood.

The foundation's 1963 report said, “The development of the (Garfield School) site and that of a substantially vacant area in the southwest corner of the project will provide adequate relocation resources in advance of displacement of families in the rest of the neighborhood.”

Nicosia appointed Lesniak executive director of the newly formed East Chicago Housing Authority in March 1965. The following month, then-City Controller Pastrick told the Chicago Tribune the city planned to speed up urban renewal in the Harbor and begin construction of public housing.

The city’s first relocation site — the Cal-View Apartments — became tied up in court, delaying the Harbor project. Nicosia told the Chicago Tribune in April 1965 that urban renewal in West Calumet would be more organized than the Harbor project, because he didn’t want another “battlefield.”

In 1966, questions arose about a possible conflict of interest as Lesniak sought re-election to a third two-year term in the Indiana House of Representatives, while also acting as housing authority director.

Latin-American and African-American leaders contended Lesniak was violating federal law by holding both posts, and Republicans pushed for an investigation, according to several 1966 Hammond Times stories.

Lesniak told a Times reporter he had legal opinions saying he could hold both posts but would give up his $10,000 salary as housing authority director.

Lesniak was seated in the House that year after the state’s attorney general issued an opinion concluding the duality was not illegal.

Industrial sites targeted

In October 1966, Lesniak revealed to the Chicago Tribune the city’s apparent mindset on public housing.

East Chicago needed to build more public housing because of relocation problems caused by urban renewal in the Harbor, but land was scarce, he told the newspaper. He said the city could either tear down existing structures, leading to the displacement of even more people, or build public housing in “vacant areas which are surrounded by industries, and undesirable residential areas.”

Many of the public housing occupants probably would be African-American or of Latin-American descent, because “the public housing projects are being built in areas which are predominantly Negro and Latin,” he told the paper.

During the builders’ 1976 trial, FBI agent Dean R. Crabbs testified on cross-examination that Lesniak at one point told him the developers of the West Calumet Housing Complex initially decided to take an option on 15 acres of land owned by the Sinclair Refinery on Columbus Drive, just west of Roosevelt High School. That site was zoned single-family residential in late 1969, according to the trial transcript.

Lesniak told Crabbs that Nicosia — a medical doctor — became upset after learning the builders selected the Sinclair site and instead arranged for them to take an option on the West Calumet property, which was owned by Blaw-Knox Co. at the time, Crabbs testified.

The builders’ option on the West Calumet site was about to run out in early 1970 when HUD pulled the plug on a plan for 600 units, and the East Chicago Housing Authority ended up buying the property to keep the project moving, records show. HUD quickly approved a new plan for 346 units, according to trial testimony.

On the take

Because of the need for more public housing, Lesniak oversaw several of the city’s major projects before resigning from the ECHA in 1973.

Lesniak pleaded guilty in 1975 to charges alleging he first conspired in July 1969 to take bribes from John Telander, whose company built the Nicosia Senior Building, 4720 Railroad Ave. The 10-story building sits on the site of one of East Chicago's first industries, the former Famous Manufacturing plant.

In exchange for the plea deal in the 1975 case against him, Lesniak agreed to testify against the builders in the 1976 West Calumet bribery case.

Besides taking kickbacks for the construction and demolition contracts, Lesniak testified he took money from several people permitted by East Chicago Development Corp. to salvage scrap iron and copper from the abandoned factory buildings. Lesniak told federal investigators he received $5,000 from salvagers and took a prefabricated metal building from the site.

He pleaded guilty to a tax fraud charge in the 1975 Telander case alleging, in part, that he failed to report on his 1971 tax return ”income from the sale of a portable office building in the form of a short-term capital gain in the amount of $1,405,” records show.

In addition to the $100,000 cash bribe for the construction contract, Lesniak testified he received the $26,000 he later solicited for himself in checks, which he funneled through several unindicted co-conspirators.

Federal prosecutors presented evidence of the checks at trial, along with two lists — one written by Bursten and another with Seidel’s fingerprints on it — showing dates and payoff amounts.

Bursten and Seidel testified their signatures appeared on checks because they merely were loaning Lesniak money, but a jury didn’t buy their story and convicted them in May 1976. They were released from prison in 1978.

Lack of hard evidence?

The government presented no written evidence, such as the Bursten and Seidel lists, related to the alleged cash payoffs shared with Nicosia, Pastrick and Given.

John Leonardo, who tried the case as an assistant U.S. attorney and now serves as the U.S. attorney for Arizona, said Nov. 28 he couldn’t recall details about the 30-year-old case. When asked why Nicosia, Given and Pastrick were never indicted in connection with the West Calumet case, Leonardo said it could have been that the government didn’t think it had enough evidence to win convictions.

Lesniak served a short prison sentence in the Telander case, and his whereabouts have remained unknown since he entered the witness protection program after pleading guilty in 1975. Some in political circles said he died several years ago. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, which oversees the federal program, declined to comment on Lesniak's status.

Though federal prosecutors never charged Given, the controversial attorney at one point faced the loss of his law license in part because of Lesniak’s testimony in the West Calumet case, Indiana Supreme Court records show. After Lesniak twice failed to show up for Given’s disciplinary hearings in 1980, two of the three counts against Given were dropped.

Given was shot to death in 1981 at a political fundraiser in East Chicago; at the time, he was fighting a recommendation for a public or private reprimand related to advice he gave to a Sanitary District director convicted in 1977 in an illegal political gift-buying scheme, records show.

No charges were ever filed in Given's murder, despite a lengthy investigation.

A federal judge ordered Nicosia to prison after his 1979 conviction on perjury and tax charges related to a different kickback scheme, but he died before serving time.

East Chicago voters first elected Pastrick mayor in 1971. He never faced criminal charges in the West Calumet case, nor any case. His administration in 1999 spent more than $24 million to pour new concrete sidewalks, driveways and patios to curry favor with voters; six city officials later were convicted in the “sidewalks-for-votes” scandal.

Pastrick remained in office until 2004, after he lost a special election ordered because of vote fraud. A federal judge in a civil racketeering case later labeled him and his administration corrupt, and ordered them in 2011 to pay $108 million. Pastrick declared bankruptcy. When he died last month at age 88, many remembered him as a leader and political legend.

Three decades ago, it was Rudy Bartolomei, for wide-ranging bribery solicitation.

Bartolomei, better known to his friends as Rudy Bart, cooperated with federal investigators who sent many other high-ranking county government officials to prison under Operation Lights Out.

Bartolomei’s whereabouts have been unknown since he entered the federal witness protection program in 1986 at age 62, although the rumor among political circles is that he died years ago.

But between 1976 when he was first elected a Lake County commissioner and 1985 when he resigned as sheriff following a guilty plea in U.S. District Court, he was one of the best known and most powerful politicians in Lake County.

In his younger days, he helped his mother run the family’s grocery store in Gary’s Glen Park section. He became a Democratic precinct committeeman and worked eight years in the county assessor’s office.

‘Helping people’

A Times story about the new commissioner portrayed him as having a handshake and a warm greeting for the common man. He told a Times reporter, “I’m really excited about helping people, now. Most of the time, it is people asking for help, and you do your best to help them.”

He had a jar of licorice on his desk for his many visitors.

Years later, his other side was revealed in court testimony about forcing county employees to buy political fundraising tickets and shaking down those who wanted business with the county.

A federal court document recounts Bartolomei meeting a then-up-and-coming politician, Frank A. J. Stodola, who had just been elected county commissioner in 1980 and wanted to know if rumors about county government graft were true.

It states, “Stodola approached Commissioner Rudy Bartolomei on several occasions and asked Bartolomei where the commissioners made their money.”

Bartolomei answered that the cleaning service for the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point inflated its bills to the county to cover the bribes paid all three members of the Board of Commissioners at that time.

Moving up

Bartolomei saw his opportunity to become the county’s chief law enforcement officer in 1983 when Sheriff Chris Anton died in office. A caucus of the county’s Democratic precinct committee members picked Bartolomei over Anton’s widow, Anna, to replace him.

A Times reporter asked him after his victory celebration about reports the FBI was looking into him. Bartolomei denied knowing anything about it.

Shortly after becoming sheriff, court documents state Bartolomei began offering protection to the owners of video poker machines, which were illegal at the time, but popping up at local taverns.

Bartolomei and other county police officials promised protection for those willing to pay, not knowing one of their petitioners was wearing a wire and recording conversations for the FBI.

A second federal investigation focused on Bartolomei’s stolen gun collection. U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raided a safe in the Sheriff’s Department and seized 50 weapons and an unregistered .38-caliber handgun silencer.

After months of speculation, a federal grand jury returned a 15-count indictment against Bartolomei March 1, 1985, accusing him of:

Ordering five county employees in 1980 to assemble political signs for his re-election at public expense

Ordering three county employees in 1981 to do repair work on his summer cottage on Lake Michigan

Paying his housemaid with $2,300 from federal revenue sharing funds belonging to the county

Extorting political contributions from employees, including $650 from a heavy-equipment operator who asked Bartolomei for a raise

Bartolomei pleaded not guilty, blamed the allegations on political enemies and disgruntled county employees and wouldn’t compromise his ability to remain sheriff.

Six months later, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts, received a 28-month sentence, and was shackled and marched out of a federal courtroom.

Two months later, he was briefing federal investigators and a grand jury on the web of public corruption over which he and his fellow county officials had presided.

He would return to the federal courthouse over the years to testify as the government’s star witness, helping win convictions against a number of officials, including: County Assessor Michael Jankovich, county Commissioners Noah Atterson Spann and Frank A.J. Stodola and Michael Mokol Sr., chief of police under Bartolomei.

To protect his new identity outside the courthouse, he wore a Halloween mask resembling Skeletor, a character from the Masters of the Universe cartoons.

While the charges were being read from the federal courthouse in Hammond, Snyder met with city department heads and employees at his home.

U.S. marshals escorted Snyder, 38, into court about 3:30 p.m. Friday. He flashed smiles at his lawyers, Thomas Kirsch and Thomas Dogan.

He pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry to felony bribery, extortion and tax dodging counts, which carry long prison terms if he is convicted.

He was freed on a $20,000 recognizance bond, but has to surrender his passport and firearms he owns. When the judge asked Snyder if he has a passport, Snyder smiled and said, “We’ve been looking for it since 7 a.m.”

Snyder’s administrative assistant, Amanda Lakie, said he would not be making a statement and directed The Times to Snyder’s attorney. Lakie said Snyder met with employees to encourage them to continue their work for the city.

“Mayor James Snyder has been under investigation for nearly two and half years and today was indicted on three counts,” said Snyder’s attorney, Tom Kirsch, of Chicago. “Mayor Snyder believed that this extremely lengthy federal investigation had been concluded without charges being sought. Today’s indictment comes as a complete surprise. This is particularly so because these charges are meritless. Mayor Snyder has always been cooperative with federal agents throughout the relentless investigation. Mayor Snyder looks forward to fighting these charges in a court of law and to complete vindication. Mayor Snyder and his family are grateful for the outpouring of support they have received from residents, friends, and family and asks that they continue to believe in him through this time.”

Federal authorities arrested and arraigned John Cortina, owner of Kustom Auto Body, 5409 U.S. 6, Portage, earlier Friday. He is pleading not guilty to his role in the scheme and is also free on bond.

Cherry set their trial to begin the week of Jan. 23, although the date could change if the defense needs more time to prepare.

The charges

The first charge names Snyder and Cortina.

Snyder and Cortina are both charged with a violation of the federal bribery statute. Snyder is alleged to have corruptly solicited and received two checks totaling $12,000 from Cortina, in exchange for a towing contract in the city of Portage, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Cortina is charged with corruptly offering those checks to Snyder.

Cortina’s business was raided last week by Indiana State Police and U.S. Treasury Department agents. Cortina told The Times then that his business was not the subject of the raid, that a towing company which leases property from Cortina was being investigated.

Snyder is also charged with a second violation of the federal bribery statute. That count alleges that between Jan. 1, 2012 and Jan. 10, 2014, Snyder corruptly solicited and agreed to accept a bank check in the amount of $13,000 in connection with Portage Board of Works contracts, a Portage Redevelopment Commission project and other consideration, stated the release.

The final charge against Snyder alleges obstruction of the internal revenue laws. This count sets forth an alleged scheme, undertaken by Snyder between January 2010 and April 2013, to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service’s collection of personal taxes he owed and payroll taxes owed by his mortgage business, First Financial Trust Mortgage LLC. Snyder is alleged to have diverted funds away from FFTM to a sole proprietorship he created, and submitted three forms to the IRS which failed to disclose, among other things, the existence of the sole proprietorship and its bank account – all during a time when the IRS was attempting to collect the aforementioned tax debt.

Lengthy investigation

The indictment comes after more than two years of investigation by the FBI into the city and Snyder and less than two months after Snyder attempted to get the city’s Utility Service Board to pay some $93,000 in legal fees involving the investigation.

In September, Snyder had two checks cut by the department and sent to two legal firms without approval by the board. The legal firms allegedly returned the checks because they were not from Snyder directly. The funds were returned to the department and Mark Oprisko, City Council president and utility board vice chairman, called for an investigation by an independent attorney into the claims.

While state law allows Snyder to request the reimbursement it can only be done if he was cleared of the investigation and there were no impending indictments.

Reactions

Oprisko said he had the “wind knocked out of me” when he heard about the indictments and was “disheartened,” thinking that the investigation was over a couple of months ago.

“It is a black eye to the city. The investigation is what it is. He is innocent until proven guilty. He still has a job to do. He has to pick it up and move forward,” Oprisko said, adding the same is true for city employees and other elected officials. “Our job is to serve the citizens of Portage, and we will continue to do that.”

“While this is a sad day for the city of Portage, Jim Snyder deserves his day in court,” said Portage Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham. “However, I am focused on ensuring myself and the City Council continue to lead Portage forward despite the mayor’s troubles. Now, more than ever, Portage needs good leaders. We are more than any one person and the issues of one won’t derail our progress.”

“Today’s indictment issued by the United States Attorney in connection to Portage Mayor James Snyder is deeply concerning,” said Portage Councilman Collin Czilli in a written statement, promising residents that city business will continue unimpeded. “However, like any other individual, Mayor Snyder deserves his day in court and the right to defend himself. As a city Councilman, I am of the mindset that we must allow the judicial process to continue and to not interfere in that process for political purposes.”

“These investigations are not over. Our public corruption team will continue its work, particularly into the towing contracts in both Lake and Porter counties,” Capp said in the press release.

Anyone with information related to these public corruption charges is encouraged to call the FBI at (219) 769-3719.

Times reporter Bill Dolan contributed to this story.

Soderquist’s 58-year-old wife, Deborah Soderquist, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and was ordered to share in restitution payments. She ran Lake Station’s food pantry and was treasurer of her husband’s election campaigns.

The Lake Station couple misused tens of thousands of dollars from the mayor’s re-election campaign fund and the city’s food pantry account to gamble at nearby casinos. The former mayor received a 42-month sentence for that fraud.

He received an additional six-month sentence for attempting to cover up his stepdaughter Miranda Brakley’s embezzlement of Lake Station City Court money.

Federal prosecutors had asked that he be sentenced to prison immediately, but Moody agreed to allow him to self-report at a specified date. The former mayor is scheduled to have neck surgery Oct. 13.

However, Moody did give the former mayor a tongue lashing.

“You stole from the food pantry? That’s obscene. I’ve sentenced many politicians in my 40 years here, but what you have done. ... Your city is full of people who are unemployed, underpaid and on welfare. What the hell were you thinking of? Are you goofy? Answer me!” the judge demanded.

The former mayor answered “no.” Moody continued, “So what you did is all right?” Shame on you.”

Soderquist, who had served nearly eight years in office, came under state and federal scrutiny four years ago following a public feud between him and former Lake Station City Judge Christopher A. Anderson, who was elected to replace Soderquist in the mayor’s office.

Anderson fired Miranda Brakley, the mayor’s stepdaughter, for stealing money held by the court from those arrested and posting bond in Lake Station.

Soderquist defended his stepdaughter and supported efforts to abolish City Court. Anderson called for an investigation of the Soderquists.

Federal authorities discovered Keith and Deborah Soderquist lost more than $100,000 between 2009 and 2012 at casino slot machines. They made dozens of withdrawals during the three-year period totaling $35,304.25 from his campaign fund and $5,040 from the city’s food pantry account.

A federal grand jury charged Keith and Deborah Soderquist in 2014 with 11 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and filing false tax returns for criminal misuse of the public funds and covering it up.

A jury last year also found the former mayor and his wife guilty after an eight-day trial of all counts.

Afterward, the government became aware the former mayor had installed in the Lake Station City Hall a system to secretly record telephone conversations and listened to about 30 of the recorded calls made or received by potential government witnesses.

The Soderquists have dropped plans to appeal their convictions, and the former mayor admits to his role in the telephone recording scheme under an agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office to forestall the government from filing additional charges against him or his wife.

Lawyers for both Soderquists argued Wednesday for leniency on grounds their health will deteriorate in prison. Deborah Soderquist suffers from diabetes, muscular dystrophy, degenerative bone disorders and a cancerous lesion on her left kidney.

Brakley, 35, of Lake Station, received six months home detention followed by two years probation July 7 for her guilty plea to the theft.

No one has yet been charged with criminal wrongdoing in that case. In Indiana, the charge is called operating while intoxicated, or OWI.

But three decades ago, an investigation by state and federal police called Operation Bar Tab bagged Lake County Court judges, a county clerk, a deputy prosecutor, a former director of the county court's alcohol counseling service and several minor court officials and attorneys.

They were convicted for their roles in fixing driving tickets, the bulk of them for drunken driving, for political favors.

Bar Tab, in connection with Operation Lights Out, a simultaneous federal investigation of non-court corruption, resulted in the conviction of more than 15 elected officials and county government employees.

Shaken Democrats at the time beheld the state replace two judges and the county clerk with Republicans, the first to occupy countywide offices in half a century.

Testimony from more than a dozen Operation Bar Tab trials and guilty pleas demonstrated drivers connected to Lake's sprawling patronage system could avoid the embarrassment of being judged in open court, and then fined, jailed, and having their licenses suspended and auto insurance premiums increased.

John Hoehner, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, is quoted in a 1986 Times story as calling this practice "an aged cancer that permeates the political system of Lake County and casts an ugly pall over its system of justice."

Birth of Bar Tab

Bar Tab began in the early 1980s under former U.S. Attorney R. Lawrence Steele who assigned a major role to his assistant, James Meyer. Both are now private lawyers.

Meyer recalls, "(State) troopers noticed they were arresting drunken drivers who they had arrested just six months earlier who shouldn't have had a license. Further checking showed one guy pleaded guilty, but nothing showed up on the police record."

They tracked the problem to Lake County Courts, created in the mid-1970s to put on the bench judges who had formal legal training. They replaced justices of the peace, quasi-judicial officials who weren't required to have law degrees to handle traffic violations.

However, these new judges, unlike their Superior Court counterparts, were elected through Lake's powerful Democratic party with all the partisan influences and obligations that come with having to marshal campaign funds and voter support.

Meyer said, "It wasn't the whole county, but certain individuals were known to, not so much stop a prosecution, but keep the records from going downstate ... if you bought $1,500 in (campaign fundraising) tickets." 

Another former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Gregory Vega, complained in 1986 of "the use and sale of political tickets, which has been called the currency of corruption, and which has perpetuated the stigma of Lake County throughout the state."

A federal court document indicates that Bar Tab's earliest inroads came the summer of 1982 when Kenneth Anderson received a call from a Dan Mingo, complaining he had just been jailed for OWI. Anderson was a Crown Point barber who had an inside connection to the courts.

Anderson invited Mingo to the shop. They agreed to fix Mingo's problem for $1,600, much of which Mingo put in a blue envelope.

Anderson then called John Marine, a county courts administrator with access to court records. Marine was seen leaving the shop later that day with a blue envelope in his pocket.

Mingo was a state police informant. He was wearing a wire. The FBI had tapped the phone. The fabricated ticket was bait.

Anderson assured Mingo he wouldn't have to appear in court. But Anderson and Marine did — after they were indicted and brought to trial in 1984 in U.S. District Court. 

The racketeering and mail fraud charges against them also alleged that a trucker who knew Anderson, got his driver's license back in the mail without ever appearing in court. Another trucker who did go to court, later said a deputy prosecutor there noted the trucker must know somebody, because he didn't have to go to jail or pay a large fine.

Marine's lawyer attempted to bolster his defense at trial by calling to the witness stand Lake County Court Judge Orval Anderson, no relation to Kenneth Anderson, to talk about court procedures.

Federal investigators believed Judge Orval Anderson, elected on a promise of being tough with drunken drivers, had presided over several of the fixed-ticket cases.

Orval Anderson was asked, under oath, if he ever disposed of drunken driving cases behind closed judicial chamber doors without a prosecutor present.

"No, no. Always prosecutors there," the judge answered, according to a court document.

Not only did the jury convict Kenneth Anderson and John Marine, a federal grand jury also indicted Judge Orval Anderson for lying under oath and obstruction of justice.

Months after that, Marine reportedly was cooperating with federal authorities to lighten his 20-year sentence. Bar Tab was picking up steam.

More indictments, convictions

Orval Anderson's trial, which ended in his conviction in June 1985, featured nine offenders accused of driving under the influence. 

They testified Orval Anderson gave them breaks behind the closed doors of his judicial chambers, after they had contacted Lake County officials to petition Judge Anderson for leniency.

Former county Clerk John Krupa, former county Recorder William Bielski and then St. John Township Trustee Gerry Scheub, now a county commissioner, were among those who intervened for the offenders. The three testified for the government and were never charged with wrongdoing.

Bielski said officeholders were always asking one another for favors. Edward Lukawski, the county clerk, was called to testify at Orval Anderson's trial, but refused under his right against self-incrimination.

He was trying to avoid Orval Anderson's earlier mistake of boldly denying wrongdoing under oath. Nevertheless, the U.S. Attorney charged Lukawski seven months later of conspiring with judges and other court personnel to secretly dispose of at least 30 driving under the influence cases as personal favors, or in exchange for political fundraising tickets.

Lukawski's defense lawyer said Lukawski never solicited anyone to buy fundraising tickets, but accepted them when someone who benefited from a fixed case rewarded Lukawski for having done them "a good turn."

Indictments over the the coming months also included the following: Judge Steven Bielak and Robert Balitewicz, Bielak's court administrator; Lee J. Christakis, lawyer and occasional county courts judge; William Huber, a former county courts bailiff; Paul Kutch, former Gary police officer, county court bailiff and director of the county courts alcohol counseling service; defense lawyer Stephen Goot; and former Deputy Prosecutor Nick Morfas.

Bielak, Balitewicz and Morfas pleaded guilty. So did Huber and Kutch, who it later was revealed, had been working for several months undercover for federal authorities and wore body recorders in return for leniency.

Goot chose trial and was convicted of conspiring with Morfas to make 10 OWI tickets disappear under a scheme in which Goot challenged the legal validity of OWI  tickets his clients received. A judge properly dismissed the tickets, but gave the prosecutor several weeks to file new charging documents.

Morfas used his position in the prosecutor's office to steal and destroy the case files associated with the dismissed tickets. No one noticed because of disarray in the prosecutor's office and the Lake County Courts records system; the dismissed tickets were never refiled, and the drivers were off the hook.

Jack Crawford, then prosecuting attorney for Lake County and now a private attorney in Indianapolis, said recently his office cooperated with Operation Bar Tab. He declined to comment further.

Christakis prepared for his trial by lining up at least 22 or 23 of his drunken driving clients to testify they never paid him to keep their record from going downstate. "Their records were already downstate," he recently recounted.

He changed his strategy when the federal trial judge dismissed some of the fraud counts against him. He and his defense lawyer thought the judge had essentially crippled the government bribery case. However, he learned too late the judge would permit the bulk of the of the government cases to go to the jury. "So there I was with the witnesses gone home," Christakis said.

The federal jury did acquit Christakis of a tax violation, but convicted him of two fraud and two obstruction of justice counts.

Attorneys convicted in the scandal lost their law licenses, as did Christakis.

But four years after Christakis' conviction, a federal judge overturned Christakis' fraud convictions on grounds Christakis never received money for anything improper.

Eight years later, the Indiana Supreme Court followed up by letting Christakis recover his law license. He is practicing law these days in Crown Point.

Christakis said, "(U.S. Attorney) Steele thought he was going to prove up bribery. He wasted a lot of investigatory resources."

Steele said recently, "The investigation was very successful in discovering what was going on at the time and taking steps to alleviate the problem. At least back in those days, the problem was solved."

Former Gov. Robert Orr, a Republican, appointed Republicans to replace the disgraced Lake County officials, including Kenneth Peterson as the first Republican county clerk in decades. Peterson initiated reforms to prevent future corruption, including closer tracking of traffic tickets. Previously, tickets were held in a file cabinet for a month before they were forwarded to court.

Former federal prosecutor Meyer said current electronic record-keeping has probably made it even more difficult for corrupt officials to lose or tamper with drunken driving cases.

Five years ago, the Indiana General Assembly voted to remove Lake County Court judges from partisan political elections. Its judges now will run for election without party labels.

Fresh problems convicting drivers of OWI?

A recent Times review of police arrests in 2014 in Lake County showed more than half of those arrested had their charges reduced from operating a vehicle while intoxicated to reckless driving, a lesser violation. This is unlike neighboring Porter County, where 81 percent were convicted of operating while intoxicated, The Times found.

Leal Hill, lead victim-services specialist for Indiana's Mothers Against Drunk Driving office, said, "We have had three calls in the last two years from concerned citizens who have expressed concern about leniency for drunk driving charges. Lake County is one place where we have received the most calls."

Hill said, "Over 300 people are killed in drunk driving-related crashes every year in Indiana. Thousands more are injured and thousands more are victimized, so for every one person killed in a drunk driving crash, 10 to 15 family members get a life sentence of grief.

"We have to show the public that if you drive drunk, we are going to take it seriously. You are going to jail, possibly prison, if you repeat. People are going to be more likely to designate a driver and drink responsibly, than if they think they are just going to get a slap on the wrist," Hill said.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter has said the sheer volume of cases, more than 800 in 2014 alone, compels his office to plea bargain charges down, or risk having most of the cases dismissed for failing to meet speedy-trial deadlines mandated by state law.

While such reductions are opposed by MADD, it is perfectly legal under the discretion the state permits local officials. But state law does compel local court officials to report traffic convictions and court-ordered driving restrictions to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Carter initiated a state police investigation in May after discovering Lake Station City Court failed to report to the BMV a 2011 reckless driving conviction for Randolph L. “Randy” Palmateer, 37, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.

Carter said that wasn't an isolated incident, and that hundreds of convictions from that city court may not have been transmitted downstate between 2008 and 2012. State police have said they are gathering court records and interviewing potential witnesses in their ongoing investigation.

Battle was represented at the hearing by his sister, Kim Maxey, who indicated he would appeal the decision.

Battle faces federal drug charges and is accused of fatally shooting Reimundo Camarillo Jr. on Oct. 12 in East Chicago. Battle has claimed self-defense in the shooting.

Battle, who was running unopposed, was re-elected in November while in Porter County Jail. He continues to be held there without bond while awaiting trial.

The council took the vote without discussion following the hearing in which attorney Joe Curosh made the case against Battle. Part of the evidence he presented included documents related to Battle’s arrest by state and federal officials.

Maxey spoke in support of her brother and said at one point a council decision to remove him would be appealed. Battle has 30 days to file an appeal.

“He has not been convicted of anything,” she told the council in regard to the criminal charges.

Curosh noted that Battle’s trial date is set for August and could be delayed again. He also said the “odds are he is going to be convicted.”

His only witness was former 3rd District Councilman James Ventura, who he questioned about the duties of a council member. Ventura talked about responding to residents in person as well as via other means, the importance of observing firsthand what was going on in the district and the duties of voting on ordinances, including the city’s budget.

Curosh said meeting minutes show that Battle has not been present since Oct. 12 and “there is no end in sight” in terms of when he may return.

Maxey said Battle “is well aware of what is going on in the district” and has been in contact with constituents, including by email. She also questioned whether proper procedures were being followed regarding holding the hearing and why council attorney Stephen Bower has not provided Battle with assistance.

A caucus of Democratic precinct committee members within the 3rd District will take place to select Battle’s replacement.

In his statement to Moody prior to the imposition of his sentence, Van Til admitted to wrong-doing, but also said he had accomplished much good during his time in office before finally breaking down in tears as his attorney Scott King patted him on the back.

"The legacy I hoped to leave -- I have none," said Van Til, who also referred to himself as a "broken person" whose "reputation is gone."

"I am sorry to the court, I am sorry to my family, I am sorry to the people who voted me into office time and time again," said Van Til.

He told the court he has lost 55 pounds in the last several months and has dealt with health issues. At the request of King, Moody will recommend Van Til serve his time at a federal prison in Terre Haute.

While agreeing he was guilty of the charges, Van Til resented what he described as embellishments made by the U.S attorney's office in regard to his action. He also told the court that he never took a bribe or threatened anyone.

King said if Van Til's entire body of work is considered, the good overwhelmingly outweighs the bad.

"His remorse is genuine, his pain is real," King said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson, however, said "the conduct of Mr. Van Til strikes a the very heart of why some people don't want to go into public service."

Benson said workers were "forced to break the law to keep their jobs and that is wrong." 

Attorneys for the government and Van Til spent much of the day wrangling over the amount of the lost to the county from Van Til having employees do political work on government time and over whether Van Til should be given credit for acceptance of responsibility.

The government pointed to a document that contained a report of a phone call made to the FBI in June 2012 by Speros Batistatos, president and chief executive officer of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority. According to the report, Batistatos told of a conversation on a trip to a White Sox game where a worker in Van Til's office spent her time doing political work.

The document, which was not supposed to be disseminated, was given by Van Til to Gregory Sanchez, who went from being deputy chief surveyor to interim surveyor in December 2013 after Van Til pleaded guilty to the charges and resigned. Sanchez said he was asked by Van Til to give the document to Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., which he did in late December just prior to a pre-caucus meeting to determine who was to become Lake County surveyor until the next election. McDermott was the Democratic Party's County Chairman at the time and ran the caucus.

Sanchez said Van Til "wasn't real happy" about Batistatos making the call. McDermott notified FBI agents after receiving the document and Bill Emerson Jr. was selected at the caucus to by Lake County Democratic precinct committee members to take over as surveyor for the next election.

Benson raised the specter the release of the report could have resulted in political retribution to Batistatos, whose board is comprised of political appointees, for doing the right thing in reporting what he believed was illegal activity to the government.

Under questioning from King, Sanchez said Van Til did not give him any direct directions of what to tell McDermott, who he indicated had been contacted earlier by Van Til. Van Til said he never threatened anyone. He indicated he was just surprised someone "could just pick up and willy-nilly call up an FBI agent."

Van Til, 67, was previously charged with six counts counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting over a scheme in which he used county employees to do his campaign work on county time. He pled guilty Dec. 5, 2013.

Prosecutors said Van Til ordered at least three county employees to complete re-election campaign work for which the employees were compensated from the county's payroll between 2007 and 2012.

The crimes constituted wire fraud, in part, because the county employees received their pay through direct deposit, which constitutes an electronic transfer, according to prosecutors.

Van Til also was accused of telling an employee to swap out a county computer's hard drive to conceal evidence in case federal authorities ever made inquiries, although those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.

His guilty plea ended Van Til's 42-year career.

Van Til's attorney asked Van Til be sentenced to a combination of probation and home detention because of the work he has done for Lake County residents and his poor health. The government provided documents that indicated Van Til's medical conditions could be accommodated while in prison.

Highland Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin, who was one of a number of local politicians and others who wrote letters in support of Van Til, testified at the sentencing hearing. He said Van Til was supported him early in his career and was also a supporter of Lake County becoming a member of the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission. He said he never thought he would find Van Til in the situation he was in Thursday.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge James Moody asked himself out loud, why did Philpot, an intelligent, well-trained man familiar with the proper workings of local government commit his crime, and concluded that the evidence pointed to "arrogance, greed and a warped sense of entitlement."

Philpot, 55, a podiatrist and attorney, served 10 years as Lake County coroner and six years as county clerk between 1992 and 2012.

"I apologize to the court and all the citizens of Lake County. I should have been more careful and done more to ensure I deserved these bonuses," an emotional Philpot said during his two-hour sentencing hearing, attended by a number of family and friends.

He also apologized to his family. "The thought of being separated from my son just kills me," Philpot said.

Philpot will be analyzed for mental health and alcohol abuse issues at the request of defense lawyer Kerry Connor. After he serves his term, he will spend two years on supervised release, similar to parole.

Federal prosecutors said Philpot began making plans to pocket bonuses from federal IV-D child support incentive money within months of taking office and taking control of the money.

State Rep. Shelli Vandenburgh, D-Crown Point, who as a deputy under Philpot, testified she warned Philpot that IV-D money was meant only to compensate deputy clerks who performed daily work of recording and accepting child support payments to needy children.

However, Philpot drew up a list of bonus recipients and ordered the money be paid, including $24,000 to himself between 2004 and 2009.

Earlier this week, Moody threw out two felony counts related to bonuses Philpot pocketed prior to 2008 on grounds there wasn't enough evidence to prove he knew taking the bonuses was illegal.

However, he remains convicted of three other theft and mail fraud counts for bonuses after that date because Philpot admitted to his lawyer at the time he thought his supplemental pay might be problematic.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson said Philpot violated state law by declining to get the approval of the seven-member County Council to boost his pay with the IV-D money.

Philpot only attempted to get council approval in 2008 and even withdrew that request immediately after Councilwoman Christine Cid questioned the legality of Philpot's maneuvers.

Philpot and his lawyers argue he was misled by an opinion from his longtime attorney David Saks that the IV-D bonuses were legal, but Benson said Saks later admitted the opinion was in error because Philpot withheld important information from him.

Benson adds Philpot also gave large, unnecessary bonuses to a group of favored employees "who did the least for the IV-D program" bonuses to camouflage his own enrichment.

Connors said Philpot already had suffered enough in terms of public humiliation and loss of his public and professional careers.

Philpot's wife, Anne-Marie, said Philpot became so depressed she had to encourage him to even get out of bed and shower, she found him walking in circles in his driveway and that he began drinking alcohol heavily.

She wrote in a letter to the court he has undergone therapy and hasn't had a drink in months.

"You, sir, did not make a mistake," Senior Judge James Moody said before a packed courtroom. "You knew exactly what you were doing, and you knew exactly what you wanted to achieve. Money."

Pabey was indicted last year after pouring government funds and city labor into remodeling his home in Gary's Miller Beach neighborhood -- and putting the house on the market for more than twice what he paid for it. The assessed loss to East Chicago was about $14,500, which Pabey posted in restitution prior to the hearing.

In September, a jury found Pabey and a former city supervisor, Jose Camacho, guilty of conspiracy and theft of government funds. In April, Camacho was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison with a $50,000 fine.

Pabey's sentence was more than his calculated 27- to 33-month guideline range, which Moody said was necessary to prevent the spread of the region's public corruption epidemic. The enhanced sentence also was a result of prosecutors' argument that Pabey's wife, Hilda, lied under oath to protect her husband.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell quoted from trial testimony in which Hilda Pabey claimed to have bought with cash items found at the Gary home – but she did not have the receipts to prove it. Bell contrasted her words with photos and receipts showing Camacho bought those same items using a city account.

Pabey's attorney, Scott King, said no intentional misrepresentations were made, and the serious illnesses of some family members at the time caused a memory lapse. King called the accusations "petty" and "vindictive."

But Moody agreed with the prosecutors.

"Her language, her demeanor, did not indicate she did not remember things or was confused," Moody said.

In arguing for a higher sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said Pabey took advantage of the trust voters had placed in him to end the corruption that had plagued the city for decades.

While East Chicago was facing severe budget issues, laying off 50 city employees and forcing others to retire, Pabey gave his friend Camacho a raise and siphoned off taxpayer money to finish his kitchen and put a bar in his basement, Nozick said.

To give the case "context" before reading the sentence, Moody read excerpts from a 2005 Times article on Pabey's victory in the mayoral race. Public figures and residents at the time were quoted describing their hopes in Pabey breathing life back into the city.

King asked Moody to consider Pabey's life of public service, as well his devotion to family, in determining his client's fate. Moody said he read the 28 letters supporting Pabey but would not give much weight to the good he did while in office because it was expected of him.

At the end of the two-hour hearing, Pabey sat expressionless, staring at his folded hands while Moody explained his reasons for the 60-month sentence.

In the next 14 days, King said he will file an appeal and request that Pabey maintain his freedom while the case makes its way through the appellate court.

"I have a lot of respect for Judge Moody, but I have to say in this particular case I could not disagree more," King said. "We have a great deal of confidence (the case) will be viewed differently in the court of appeals."

King has argued Pabey did not know that Camacho used city money on the house or that city employees were working there while on the clock. He said Pabey was paying Camacho with cash or checks to work on the home during off hours, as Camacho did not have a structured day in his 24-hour, on-call position.

If Pabey's request to be released pending the appeal is denied, he must report to prison June 1.

And while some appeared to cry after the hearing, others said they were happy justice was served.

"He ruined the reputation of East Chicago when it could have been restored," said Jesse Gomez, vice chairman of East Chicago's Democratic Party.

Simon sentenced former top deputy Wanda Joshua to 15 months in prison. The judge placed former aide Albert Young Jr., who signed a plea agreement and admitted guilt, to two years on probation. The final former deputy, Ann Marie Karras, is slated for sentencing Wednesday.

Defense lawyer Scott King said Allen, who continues to deny criminal wrongdoing, plans to appeal his conviction. King had asked Simon to put Allen on home detention, while prosecutors sought a 30-month sentence.

Allen, Joshua and Karras were convicted at a jury trial in April 2009 of two counts each of mail fraud. Prosecutors said Allen, Karras, Joshua and Young intentionally committed fraud by taking checks worth $143,000 from a contract linked to federal welfare-to-work programs. Prosecutors said the defendants routed unearned checks to their own bank accounts without permission of the Calumet Township Board and did not properly disclose their interests in the contract.

Defense lawyers argued the defendants were told they could legally take the payments.

Allen, noticeably thinner than he was last spring but speaking stridently in full voice, reiterated his disagreement with the jury verdict Tuesday in court. He said he signed the contract hoping to help the poor of Calumet Township. He said he administered more than $300 million in funds during his 32 years as township trustee. He noted he reported the welfare-to-work contract payments to the Township Board. He voiced remorse at his "hasty" behavior and acknowledged his decisions were "flawed," but he denied knowingly committing fraud.

"I absolutely did not violate federal law with any willful intent of deception," Allen said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell pointed out that Allen's crime was committed against impoverished residents of Calumet Township. He called the crime, which spanned years, "brazen" and "shocking."

King, a former Gary mayor defending a man who was briefly mayor of Gary after King resigned, eulogized Allen's political career in a speech redolent of King's own political experience. He said Allen, a decorated Korean War veteran, entered politics at a time when a black man would not have been welcome in certain Gary neighborhoods. King observed that Lake County Democratic politics set a low standard for cordiality, but he said Allen drew respect from his peers. Allen was "legendary" among local politicians, King said.

"You don't get elected that many times unless you can accurately be called a warrior," King said.

King said last year's conviction sent Allen into a "spiral." King challenged as "delusional" a Bureau of Prisons doctor's testimony Tuesday that the bureau can appropriately treat Allen's ailments. Simon said court records indicate a pattern of "bizarre behavior" followed Allen's conviction. Allen showed up at church "dressed inappropriately" and "lashed out at his wife," Simon said. King said Allen's record and his deteriorating health justified leniency.

"Mercy and justice are coequals in this particular case," King said.

Simon disagreed with King's argument that the prison bureau can't appropriately treat Allen. He lauded Allen for his public service, but Simon decried corruption as "corrosive" to the public trust in democracy. Simon described Allen's "cover story" as "ridiculous."

"I do think that this was motivated by greed," Simon said.

In sentencing Joshua, Simon said he had to balance factors including the support of family and friends -- who turned in an exceptional volume of letters praising Joshua -- with Joshua's prior embezzlement conviction and tax issues discovered by Internal Revenue Service investigators after the criminal investigation started. Joshua pleaded guilty to failing to file tax returns in 2001 and 2002.

Joshua plans to appeal, said her lawyer, Karen Freeman-Wilson.

Simon said Young, now of Mississippi, was "clearly less culpable" than his co-defendants. Young's plea agreement precludes an appeal.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Revisit coverage of Bob Cantrell's 2008 federal fraud trial.

RELATED: Read the federal indictment.

Milner argued Cantrell's crimes were "victimless" because Cantrell, a former political fixer based in East Chicago, can pay back the $68,000 he took from North Township through contract fraud.

Lozano disagreed. He called Cantrell a "blessed" man who stole from taxpayers.

"You were ahead of what most people had," Lozano told Cantrell. "But from the evidence in this case, it also appears that you fell into that ditch called politics."

Lozano sentenced Cantrell to 78 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lozano also ordered Cantrell to repay the $68,000 to North Township. Cantrell must report for prison May 13.

Milner drew smiles and quiet chuckles when he requested Cantrell be sent to a federal prison in Oxford, Wis., a common destination for local public servants convicted of federal crimes. Lozano agreed to recommend to the prison bureau that Cantrell be sent to a jail near Chicago.

"There are some people at the (Oxford) facility that are casual acquaintances," Milner said.

Milner said outside court he planned to file appeals to Cantrell's conviction and sentence Tuesday afternoon.

Cantrell was convicted June 6 of four counts of depriving the public of honest services, three counts of insurance fraud using the U.S. mail and four counts of filing false tax returns between 2000 and 2003. The indictment accused him of taking cash kickbacks from a contract between his then-employer, the North Township trustee's office, and a political ally's company.

The sentencing was delayed almost 10 months, most recently so that Lozano could review trial transcripts for evidence relevant to Milner's objections to sentence enhancements proposed in a pre-sentence report prepared by probation agents.

Milner argued unsuccessfully that his "friend Bob" deserved a lighter sentence, claiming the township lost no money in the fraud and that Cantrell had no decision-making or supervisory power at the township. Milner pleaded with Lozano to ignore advisory sentencing guidelines that called for a sentence of up to eight years in prison.

Assistant U.S Attorney Orest Szewciw asked for an eight-year sentence.

"Lake County, Ind., has a history of public corruption, and this case is just one more sordid chapter," Szewciw said.

In his statement to Lozano, Cantrell did not apologize. He reminded Lozano of his military service in the Gulf War.

"No matter what happens here today, I am proud to be an American," Cantrell said.

Smith, 68, who was president of County Council when he was indicted last year, was convicted of one count of filing a false tax return in 2001. He was acquitted of two conspiracy charges.

Harris, 54, and Powell, 63, were convicted of one count each of filing false tax returns, conspiring to defraud the public charity that legally owned the store and conspiring to illegally erase back taxes on the store. They were each acquitted of one conspiracy charge.

Smith faces a maximum of three years in prison and Harris and Powell face up to 28 years when they're sentenced in early January, although the sentences are highly dependent on federal guidelines and U.S. District Judge Philip Simon's judgment.

"The message is don't take advantage of people and don't abuse your power, because that's what this case was about," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said. "What it affirms is that the U.S. attorney's office is going to continue to fight corruption."

None of the defendants showed emotion when the verdicts were read about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

"I think the verdict is fair, based on the evidence," said defense attorney Fred Work, who got Smith acquitted of the charges that could have carried the most prison time.

Harris' wife, Dharathula Hood-Harris, had little to say about the trial, in which she took the witness stand as Harris' bookkeeper.

"He was not guilty," Hood-Harris said.

The jury deliberated for about 16 hours over two days following the seven-day trial. The verdict came about seven hours after the jury of eight women and four men wrote Simon a note Thursday saying they were "hopelessly deadlocked" on eight of the charges.

Though the case featured a blizzard of paperwork -- quit-claim deeds, cash receipts registers and profit-loss statements -- Bell said the prosecution's case rested mainly on the testimony of close friends and family members of the defendants.

One victim who testified was Dharathula Millender, who is Harris' aunt-in-law and the founder of the Gary Historical and Cultural Society, which owned the grocery store at 6300 Miller Ave. and yet lost 75 percent of the profits of the sale to "finder's fees."

Also testifying was Dorothy Ard, a longtime family friend of Harris, who said Harris betrayed her by forging her signature on a GUEA check that made it look as though she took an absurd, twenty-fold profit on the sale of the building at 768-778 Broadway.

Harris and Powell also were convicted of fraudulently reducing property taxes on the grocery store by $58,000, telling a judge the building would have to be razed because of poor condition -- on the same day they received their profits from the sale.

Prosecutors said the three men deliberately failed to report the income on their 2001 tax returns. Defense attorneys noted that the taxes were paid in 2004, after a civil audit of Powell's taxes uncovered the profits.

His wife, Karen L. Krahn-Fife, 37, must serve a 24-month sentence for her role in helping hide their income from the IRS through a baffling array of five shell corporations they created to receive under the table payments from former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick and former North Township Trustee Gregory Cvitkovich.

The two also must reimburse the IRS a total of $627,000 in back taxes.

Moody didn't mince words with Fife when pronouncing his sentence. "This is an egregious crime. You should be ashamed of yourself. You did a disservice to your profession (as a lawyer), the city of East Chicago, your family and friends. Shame on you."

Merrillville lawyer Nick Thiros, who defended the couple and is a longtime acquaintance of Fife, said, "The biggest disappointment for Jim is that he feels he dragged Karen into this. Unfortunately, he did wrong by her. That is his biggest shame."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch III said Fife was "entrusted to make (East Chicago) better," but instead of stopping others in City Hall from misappropriating public funds Fife "was loading his pockets."

Government presented evidence at the nearly four-hour sentencing showing the couple received more than $1 million between 1998 and 2001 when he was a special assistant to former mayor Pastrick.

Kirsch said Fife did little if any legitimate work for the dollars, but milked his relationships with former mayor Pastrick and Cvitkovich, a longtime friend of Fife, a political ally of Pastrick and a cousin of Krahn-Fife.

Kirsch said Fife was a deal maker. The government alleged Fife received $135,000 from Cvitkovich "for arranging a contract between the city (of East Chicago) and Clark Material Terminals, owned by Dan McArdle, for the removal of sludge." The government alleges that deal was "in violation of the Indiana bribery law."

McArdle isn't charged with any wrongdoing. He was a major contributor to Pastrick's campaigns and is best known for owning a tire recycling business that caught fire in 1994 and polluted local skies for many days.

Former mayor Pastrick isn't charged with any criminal wrongdoing, although he is defending himself against a civil racketeering suit filed by the Indiana attorney general, which claims Pastrick and others operated the city as a corrupt enterprise.

Cvitkovich pleaded guilty last October to tax fraud and was forced to resign as township trustee. He is awaiting sentencing.

Kirsch said Cvitkovich and the city of East Chicago would have had to report their payments to the IRS if they had been made personally to Fife and his wife, so instead they took advantage of a loophole in tax law and the payments were made to five sham corporations that didn't have to be reported to the IRS.

Thiros argued Fife was disorganized and guilty only of negligence. He said the wife trusted her husband and didn't realize he was committing a crime.

Kirsch said the wife had to know because she was benefiting from the illicit income too, drawing out $40,000 out of the sham corporations to buy herself a new Mercedes-Benz.

Fife said, "I'd like to apologize to the court, my family and friends. My intention was to help my family." Krahn-Fife said, "I'm deeply sorry for all my wrongdoing. Our marriage was based on love and trust. There was never a reason to question anything."

The couple left the courtroom hand in hand. They have a 3-year-old son who will be without his parents beginning next month.

Moody said he will recommend sending Fife and Krahn-Fife to the Oxford Federal Correctional Institution, a medium security facility in south central Wisconsin.

There they can serve time with Kevin Pastrick, a son to the former East Chicago mayor, Peter Manous, another protege of Pastrick and a former state Democratic party chairman and two other convicted East Chicago officials.

Markovich must repay East Chicago the $755,088 he overbilled the city for work JGM Enterprises, his landscaping and contracting service, did. He also must pay a $6,000 fine.

He is scheduled to report to prison May 17. He will be eligible for parole after 15 months.

Markovich's sentencing was in sharp contrast to that of Frank Kollintzas, a former East Chicago city councilman, who fled to Greece two weeks ago to avoid an 11-year and four-month sentence as a leader of the sidewalk scandal.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen said afterward that Markovich deserved a break.

"He came to us. He received the benefit of cooperation," Van Bokkelen said. He also said Markovich could have received more than double the prison time if he hadn't cooperated.

Van Bokkelen said the details of Markovich's cooperation are being kept secret because the information is being used to pursue other public officials.

Markovich's firm was one of several that took part in a $24 million windfall ordered by officials of former Mayor Robert Pastrick's administration. They turned a modest sidewalk improvement project into an offer of free concrete driveways, patios, walkways and tree trimming for almost anyone who asked.

It was done in the weeks leading up to the 1999 Democratic primary election. Stephen R. "Bob" Stiglich was mounting a serious challenge to Pastrick's re-election. Pastrick beat Stiglich.

The FBI launched an investigation of the scandal in 2000. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said Thursday, "Others lied by telling us they didn't know anything or refused to be interviewed, but (Markovich) approached us. We are happy he came to us and told the truth."

Markovich pleaded guilty last year to the overbilling and immediately resigned from the county council.

"I have made some bad life-altering decisions. I want to apologize to the taxpayers, the IRS, the court, my wife, Sandy, and our six daughters," Markovich said.

Lozano said it was public thievery like Markovich's that helped reduce the once-vibrant East Chicago community "to only a shadow."

Kollintzas wrote a letter to the court the day he fled complaining he hadn't slept well since his arrest in 2003 in the sidewalks-for-votes case and that he didn't deserve "to go to prison until I die or become an old man."

The judge issued an arrest warrant for Kollintzas.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen said, "I will vigorously pursue him." Kollintzas, however, could find sanctuary in Greece, since that nation doesn't return American fugitives who receive Greek citizenship, he said.

He said Kollintzas is a native-born American, but his parents immigrated from Greece. Kollintzas' cousin, Evangelos Kollintzas of Schererville, fled there two years ago to avoid trial on a federal extortion charge.

The judge said Frank Kollintzas' sentence was a "just punishment" for misappropriating nearly $24 million in public funds five years ago to give free concrete driveways, patios and sidewalks to voters to ensure his re-election and that of the former Mayor Robert Pastrick's administration in the 1999 primary election.

There was no reaction Thursday to the announcement of Kollintzas' disappearance from the crowd of his supporters in the courtroom.

A work associate of Kollintzas, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Times Thursday she and another fellow worker last saw Kollintzas Tuesday afternoon. He met with one of his lawyers that day at the city school administration building, where Kollintzas was on the payroll as director of facilities.

Kollintzas apparently left his car in the school parking lot outside an administration building called the warehouse. A member of his family came to drive it away.

His 62nd birthday was Tuesday, and his family had planned a celebration at his home that evening. "But he never showed up," she said. She said his family told others they didn't know where he was. "No one has heard anything. This is like a bad dream," she said.

Van Bokkelen, who was present in court for the sentencing, and Theodore Poulos, lead counsel of Kollintzas' defense team, both said they suspect Kollintzas fled after the judge sentenced his co-defendants, Edwardo Maldonado, former city controller, and Joe De La Cruz, former fellow city councilman, to eight years and six years in prison, respectively.

Poulos said in his sentencing argument, "I don't know why he isn't here, but he continued to insist on his innocence and facing a sentence in such a draconian range... that would put him in prison until age 73 or 75."

He said Kollintzas would have received the same sentence if he had robbed and wounded a bank teller.

Van Bokkelen said the sentence was fair and a warning to others under investigation to cooperate or face a similar price.

He said, "I think the Maldonado sentence (Friday) did scare him. I think Kollintzas hedged his bets up to the last moment."

Kollintzas was supposed to have been sentenced Friday along with Maldonado and De La Cruz, but the judge granted Kollintzas a six-day delay because Poulos had to appear in another court Friday.

Van Bokkelen said he doesn't think that was a ruse. "I think Ted was as shocked as anybody. Ted's client betrayed him. I take him at his word that he wanted to (be sentenced) first."

Van Bokkelen said he never considered detaining Kollintzas before sentencing, despite vague rumors he might flee. He said no federal judge was likely to detain someone like Kollintzas who had lived and worked in Northwest Indiana all his life.

The three-hour sentencing -- described as surreal by one government source -- featured defense lawyers praising Kollintzas' integrity. "He's done a world of good," Poulos said.

The judge ran through the ritual of explaining how he arrived at the sentence, the amount of restitution ($25.5 million) and the right of appeal to an absent defendant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hollar argued that with Kollintzas "getting on an airplane and leaving the country, there was no more powerful statement he could make" in answer to evidence Kollintzas led and organized the corruption that swept the city.

The judge read out a long list of witnesses who implicated Kollintzas in the sidewalk scheme and said that his escape counterbalanced all the good attributed to his private and public good works over the last four decades.

Miller said 25 people wrote him to praise Kollintzas. "He did not return their support today," the judge said.