Thursday, August 24, 2017

08242017 - News Article - Lake County Sheriff guilty of bribery, other crimes. What happens now?



Lake County Sheriff guilty of bribery, other crimes. What happens now?
NWI Times
Aug 24, 2017
nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lake-county-sheriff-guilty-of-bribery-other-crimes-what-happens/article_6d3ae361-f1ec-51b4-b00b-bb85f5db4699.html
HAMMOND — John Buncich's long police career ended Thursday.

All his former powers as the county's top elected law enforcement officer became null and void when an eight-man, four-woman jury found him guilty in a U.S. District Court jury trial of federal public corruption charges.

Buncich's lawyer, Bryan Truitt, said after the verdict the the sheriff would prepare a letter of resignation after consulting with his legal counselors.

However, state law makes that unnecessary, according to Jim Wieser, Lake County Democratic chairman and a veteran election law attorney.

He said the law states any public officer convicted of a felony during the public officer's term of office shall be removed from office by operation of law when, in a jury trial, a jury publicly announces a verdict against the person for a felony.

Wieser said a caucus of the Lake County Democratic party's 523 precinct committee members will have to meet within 40 days to fill the vacancy left behind. He said he intends to schedule one early next month.

Those who have publicly expressed interest in running for sheriff include: Lake County Clerk Mike A. Brown, former Sheriff Roy Dominguez, Schererville Police Chief David Dowling, Richard Ligon of Gary, county police Sgt. Oscar Martinez, assistant county Police Chief Daniel Murchek and Highland attorney Thomas O'Donnell.

Chief of Police Matt Eaton, who has been serving as Buncich's second-in-command, is expected to be the acting sheriff during the interim.

The last sheriff to leave office prematurely was Rudy Bartolomei Oct. 25, 1985, when he pleaded guilty to felony charges he extorted campaign contributions from employees and ordered employees to work on his political campaigns.

Buncich already was a veteran police officer at that time.

He joined the county police force in late 1971. Buncich rose to the rank of captain and had served in all the Sheriff's Department's divisions, including: detective bureau, jail, patrol, communications and civil processing by his first successful run for sheriff in 1994.

He was re-elected in 1998. Term limits forced him to step down in 2002. He won back the office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014 and would have remained in office until the end of 2018.

He commanded 475 county police, corrections officers and civilian employees, as well as a $32 million annual budget and a personal salary of more than $146,000.

He dedicated his most recent years in office to improving health care for county jail inmates to remove the county jail from federal supervision following a civil rights suit against the county filed in 2009.




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