Ex-Lake County, Ind., sheriff to be sentenced in bribery scheme
ABC News - Chicago
January 16, 2018
http://abc7chicago.com/ex-lake-county-ind-sheriff-to-be-sentenced-in-bribery-scheme/2952234/
HAMMOND, Ind. (WLS) -- A sentencing hearing was underway Tuesday morning for former Lake County, Ind. sheriff John Bunchich, who was involved in an illegal towing scheme.
Bunchich, who was convicted in August of six counts of corruption, is accused of accepting cash bribes and donations to his campaign.
Prosecutors were slated to present three witnesses and the defense will call one before the federal judge in Hammond, Ind., makes a decision.
Prosecutors are seeking between 15 and 20 years in prison.
In accordance with state law, Buncich has been removed from office because he has been convicted of a felony.
During the trial, federal prosecutors argued Buncich used his office's control over the towing program to get kickbacks and bribes from tow operators, usually in the form of campaign contributions or fundraising tickets. The prosecution also presented FBI surveillance video that they said showed Buncich accepting a bribe.
Buncich denied ever requiring towing companies to pay him in order to get business from his agency. He also accused the FBI and government informants of setting him up.
He blamed sloppy bookkeeping for $7,500 he received from a towing company operator not showing up in his political campaign account.
Buncich was indicted in November 2016 alongside his second-in-command Timothy Downs and William Szarmach, owner of the Lake Station, Ind., business CSA Towing. Buncich was charged with violation of the federal bribery statute and five counts of honest services wire fraud.
Szarmach plead guilty to counts of honest services wire fraud, bribery and failure to file a tax return, and Downs plead guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud.
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