Sheriff investigating employee in light of Buncich sentencing testimony
Post-Tribune
January 17, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-lake-sheriff-internal-investigation-st-0118-20180117-story.html
The Lake County Sheriff's department launched an internal investigation Wednesday into a jail contract employee in light of testimony Tuesday at John Buncich's sentencing, an official said.
The testimony revealed that the employee "may have inappropriately used" the department's information system "to gather information on people related to the federal case against the former sheriff," said Emiliano Perez, sheriff's department spokesman, in a release.
"The unauthorized or inappropriate access may be a violation of both department policy and state law," Perez said.
A person was ordered to return all department credentials and was suspended "any access to the facility pending the outcome of the investigation," according to Perez.
The name of the employee was not released.
Sheriff Oscar Martinez declined comment until the investigation is complete.
Judge James Moody sentenced Buncich Tuesday in Hammond's federal court to 15 years and 8 months in prison.
During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson asked Deborah Back, the director of nursing at Correctional Health Indiana and Buncich's "significant other," about her use of the Spillman system to find information on a confidential source.
"Yes, I viewed it," Back said, but denied doing it at the direction of the former sheriff.
"I don't routinely run people. Period," she said. "I know that it was wrong."
Benson said there's a warning in the Spillman that "unauthorized access is a violation of law."
The FBI spoke with a Sheriff's Department employee who searched the records of the medical staff member's use of the Spillman and found several occasions where information outside the normal scope was sought.
FBI special agent Nathan Holbrook said, during testimony, the employee searched for two people tied to the Buncich trial: the confidential source and Benson.
At the end of the sentencing hearing, Buncich was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to immediately begin serving his sentence.
Buncich was indicted in November 2016 in a towing scheme where he accepted bribes in the form of thousands of dollars in cash and donations to his campaign fund, Buncich Boosters, according to court records.
He was convicted in August for bribery and wire fraud, among other charges, for soliciting bribes from county tow operators in his public corruption trial.
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