FBI Bypasses U.S. Attorney's Office In Perry Township Corruption Case

I got a big chuckle reading this comment in the Star from Acting U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison of the Southern District of Indiana reacting to the fact that the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Justice Department is handling the Perry Township badge-selling case and not his office. "It isn't uncommon for the Washington, D.C, office to handle local public corruption cases, said Tim Morrison, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana," the Star's John Tuohy reports. Yeah, right. The U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago handles all of the public corruption cases arising there, such as the prosecution of two governors and high-ranking advisers to Mayor Richard Daley, but the Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C. must be called into to handle an investigation of a small fish like the Perry Township Constable.

Quite simply, the local FBI office has learned its lesson. After working their butts off investigating the corrupt Lawrence water company deal that would have resulted in indictments and convictions in almost any other city in America, the U.S. Attorney's Office here just simply dumped their work in the trash and allowed the self-dealing buddies of former Lawrence Mayor Tom Schneider to walk off with millions. I'm happy to see the local FBI office has wised up. If you want to end public corruption in Indianapolis, you have to bypass the local U.S. Attorney's Office.

Tuohy story also raises some interesting questions about who was paying thousands of dollars to purchase those badges and parking placards. "The health insurance CEO ponied up $2,500; the owner of an electronics store handed over $5,000; and the CEO of a management consulting firm paid $6,000," Tuohy writes. The charging documents also identified an owner of a restaurant bar, the owner of a software company, a finance manager for a car dealership and a construction company owner. Will any of those people be charged in the ongoing investigation? Will former Deputy Constable Michael Sherfick serve them up to the prosecutors? Interestingly, Sherfick is represented by Indianapolis' top criminal defense attorney, James Voyles. His legal services aren't cheap.