01172018 - News Article - Lake officials hit alarm following possible misconduct by ex-sheriff Buncich's girlfriend in her role as nursing director

Lake officials hit alarm following possible misconduct by ex-sheriff Buncich's girlfriend in her role as nursing director
NWI Times
January 17, 2018
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lake-officials-hit-alarm-following-possible-misconduct-by-ex-sheriff/article_064b4ad1-0c28-5a09-8b0a-8c1db1e30a6b.html#tracking-source=home-breaking

CROWN POINT —The Lake County Jail medical director is coming under pressure to replace his nursing director following her unauthorized use of police records.

Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. locked Deborah Back out of the Lake County Jail Tuesday after she testified in federal court she used the sheriff department's record system to look into the background of federal task force members investigating her partner, former Sheriff John Buncich.

Martinez issued a news release Wednesday stating he has ordered his department's internal investigations unit to determine if Back "may have inappropriately used the Lake County Sheriff Department’s information system to gather information on people related to the federal case against the former Sheriff. The unauthorized or inappropriate access may be a violation of both Department policy and State Law."

Back was forced Tuesday to disclose this when she was called unexpectedly to the witness stand Tuesday to testify why she looked up records on Scott Jurgensen, an undercover FBI informant and Philip Benson, an assistant U.S. attorney who presented evidence against Buncich at trial last August and at Buncich's sentencing Tuesday.

A federal judge Tuesday ordered Buncich to immediately begin serving a 188-month prison term for his bribery and fraud.

Buncich had given Back access to the department's database after she became the jail's nursing director. She was an employee of Dr. William W. Forgey, a personal friend and physician of Buncich.

Forgey owns Correctional Health Indiana Inc., which has had the contract to provide medical services to jail inmates since 2012. He and his 41-member staff are receiving more than $4 million this year for their jail services. He didn't return calls seeking comment.

Lake County commissioners, who awarded Forgey's contract, said Wednesday they expect Forgey to put a nursing director in place at the jail, as his contract and the U.S. Justice Department, which oversees jail services, demand.

Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond said, "I wouldn't say there has been a wholesale loss of faith, but I look forward to Dr. Forgey's immediate action to fix the situation."

Back testified Tuesday she normally used the sheriff's records to track jail inmates in need of medical services and didn't realize, at the time, what she was doing, was inappropriate.

Benson questioned her Tuesday about whether she was looking up the records on behalf of Buncich, who had previously requested one of his commanders, Mark Eaton, use other police records to dredge up information on witnesses accusing Buncich of bribery. Eaton refused to do so.

She denied doing it for Buncich.

Martinez said Tuesday she is denied access to Spillman and the jail "until further notice," and that he has ordered his technical advisors to restrict the amount of information the county's jail medical staff can access in future to prevent a similar occurrence.

Lucrative position
Back said she had been working in the county jail since 2012. She said she hadn't worked as a nurse for a decade prior to that, but that her husband, Mike Back, died that year of a heart attack and she had to support her children. She said she began dating Buncich in 2014.

County records indicate Back's salary for supervising nursing services in the jail last year was $190,000 — more than the sheriff's salary. Back testified she also received annual bonuses that pushed her income up to $230,000 in 2014, and $217,000 in 2015.

The website, Nurse.org, states the average annual salary in 2016 for Indiana's more than 63,000 registered nurse was less than $59,000.

Buncich also employed her son, Mark Back, as his public relations spokesman in 2015 and in 2016, and made him the department's health care service administrator in 2016 where he managed the jail inmate's Medicaid coverage and a treatment program for individuals addicted to opioids.

He had an annual salary of $61,783 when he resigned in the fall, two months after Buncich's conviction last year. He currently is a Democratic candidate for the 19th District state House seat.

Mark Back said Wednesday, "I was fortunate to have several options regarding where I wanted to take my career. I chose to seek employment with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, because I wanted to return to my hometown and utilize my education and experience in health care programs to serve our community. The Sheriff’s Department provided me an opportunity to do just that. I am very proud of the work that I did with county government."