Northern Indiana<\/a>, said in a statement Stahura knew his conduct was illegal. Still, he continued his actions for more than five years.<\/p>\n\u201cToday\u2019s charges and guilty plea are another black eye for Northwest Indiana,\u201d Kirsch said.\u00a0\u201cMr. Stahura, an elected official for over 35 years, illegally used his campaign funds for personal activities and expenditures and lied about it on his publicly filed campaign reports and tax returns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor “Devastated,” Attorney Says<\/h2>\n
Whiting is a town of a 5,000 on Lake Michigan between Hammond, Ind., and East Chicago, Ind. Those communities have casinos less than two miles from Whiting.<\/p>\n
The Times of Northwest Indiana <\/em>reported Thursday that Stahura emailed colleagues to let them know he would resign in the days ahead. He declined an interview request with the newspaper.<\/p>\nHowever, his attorney defended him and said he was a \u201cdynamic mayor\u201d and strong family man.<\/p>\n
He used some of his campaign funds for personal use, routinely paid it back, and\u00a0is devastated that his nearly two-decade term as mayor is ending in this manner,\u201d Kerry Connor said in a statement to The Times<\/em>. \u201cWhiting has gained several millions of dollars in lakefront development and infrastructure enhancements, nearly $600,000 in COVID-19 relief, a mascot Hall of Fame<\/a>, and so much more under his leadership, and his decision to accept this plea agreement was in the best interest of his family and the citizens of Whiting.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nCourt records do not indicate when Stahura will appear in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The mayor of Whiting, Ind., agreed to step down and plead guilty to charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return after an investigation uncovered he and his wife misused more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal uses. That included trips to casinos, according to court documents filed Thursday in an Indiana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":146476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Indiana Mayor Admits Guilt, Used Campaign Funds at Casinos. Other Uses<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n