UPDATE: Sheriff's top commander to plead in bribery case
NWI Times
Updated - December 16, 2016 - 1:00PM
HAMMOND — The sheriff's Chief of Police is resigning and pleading guilty in the Lake County Sheriff Department towing bribery scandal.
Timothy Downs, 65, is admitting in a nine-page statement filed in U.S. District Court that he defrauded the public of honest government services by doing political fund-raising for Sheriff John Buncich on public time, in his publicly provided police car.
Downs states he knew doing so was prohibited by county government directives, but did so under orders by Buncich.
Down admits he has previously been helping investigators and will cooperate in any future prosecutions in return for the government's promise to recommend he receive the minimum possible prison time under federal sentencing guidelines.
U.S. Attorney David Capp disclosed last month Scott Jurgensen, owner of Merrillville-based Samson’s Towing, also has been cooperating with his office as a witness to payments made to Buncich.
Valparaiso defense attorney Bryan M. Truitt, who represents Buncich, said Friday, his client disagrees with the allegations contained in the plea agreement.
"Sheriff Buncich is very proud of his honest public service and his good works and is completely innocent," Truitt said.
Downs is scheduled appear as early as this afternoon in U.S. District Court to ask a judge to accept the plea bargain.
It comes only two weeks after the government arrested Buncich, 70, Downs and William "Willie" Szarmach, who operates CSA Towing, of Lake Station.
All three pleaded at the time to an indictment alleging they took part in the exchange of $34,500 in illicit cash payments between February 2014, and last month to enrich the sheriff and his Buncich Booster's campaign committee.
All three are free on bond awaiting trial, now scheduled to begin next month.
Downs, who served as Buncich's second-in-command since 2011, said he "became aware that the sheriff was using his control over the Sheriff's Department's tow list to extract political contributions and cash bribe payments in exchange for favorable treatment for certain Lake County towing firms."
He states the sheriff had exclusive control to determine which towing firms would remove vehicles from public roads and streets. He said between 10 and 12 towing companies were on the sheriff's list of approved towing firms.
Downs' statement continues, "As time progressed under the sheriff, it became apparent that in order to get on the Lake County tow list, stay on the list or obtain additional towing areas, a tow company owner had to contribute to the sheriff's fund-raisers.
"Although I did not want to sell the fund-raising tickets, or collect the proceeds for these tickets, the sheriff directly ordered me to engage in these activities, even though they were in direct contravention of county policy directives prohibiting such activity.
"I sold the tickets during regular business hours using my government-provided sheriff's vehicle. After getting this money, I would deliver the checks or cash to the sheriff and provide the information to him regarding who bought tickets and how many tickets were purchased by each company," it states.
The agreement mentions two contributions made in April and October of 2014 and a third in June of 2015. "I gave these checks and cash payments to the sheriff knowing that the payments were obtained with the expectation of favorable treatment regarding towing for Lake County.
"Often times, the owners of these companies did not even want the fund-raising tickets or take physical possession of them, but simply wanted to make sure that the sheriff knew that they had contributed to his fund-raiser."
Downs said he later learned that many of the cash payments weren't recorded on the sheriff's campaign finance report as required by law.
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