04282015 - News Article - FBI continues investigation around Portage city government

FBI continues investigation around Portage city government
NWI Times
April 28, 2015 3:15 pm
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/fbi-continues-investigation-around-portage-city-government/article_6eb4c990-d14a-5eaa-99d7-9b710c29e688.html

PORTAGE | The FBI is continuing its investigation in and around city government.

Agents recently requested and were provided with meeting minutes from the Portage FOP Lodge 145, which is made up of officers from the police department, said Recording Secretary Sgt. John Ryan.

The agency was after the lodge's monthly meeting minutes for all of 2011, Ryan said. The FBI gave no indication of a target or what they were looking for, he said.

The request came by phone and the minutes were transferred over electronically, Ryan said.

News of the request comes in the wake of several subpoenas being served last year around city government.

Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham confirmed in October he received an electronic subpoena from the FBI seeking records of all payments and invoices from Circle R Electric between Jan. 1, 2008 and the end of September.

Stidham also confirmed he was interviewed the month before by an FBI agent for more than an hour. During the interview, Stidham said they discussed a "wide range of topics" involving the mayor's office, Redevelopment Commission activities, property purchases and relationships between various individuals.

Stidham said he was also asked to provide certified copies of Board of Works minutes by the city attorney's office involving contracts for the purchase of garbage trucks. The information was necessary, he said, to fulfill a subpoena the city's street department received last month.

The clerk-treasurer subpoena was the latest in a string delivered by the FBI to various officials. In July, the FBI requested Mayor James Snyder's campaign finance records and records from his political action committee Portage Mayor Elect 2011. The Utility Services Board also received subpoenas that month seeking documents related to a trip Snyder took to Austria he initially funded through the department, but then paid back the cost.

Snyder declined comment at the time, but had previously said Portage will cooperate with all requests.