10152014 - Grand Jury Testimony - Sharon Swihart, Valparaiso Clerk Treasurer

10012014 - News Article - FBI continues to request information from Portage officials

FBI continues to request information from Portage officials
NWI Times
October 01, 2014
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/fbi-continues-to-request-information-from-portage-officials/article_63645550-b9a0-5c79-9004-62609660568f.html

PORTAGE | Another Portage official has received a federal subpoena seeking information on city purchases.

Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham confirmed Wednesday that he received an electronic subpoena from the FBI seeking records of all payments and invoices from Circle R Electric between Jan. 1, 2008 and the end of September.

Stidham also confirmed that he was interviewed last month by an FBI agent for more than an hour. During the interview, Stidham said they discussed a "wide range of topics" involving the mayor's office, Redevelopment Commission activities, property purchases and relationships between various individuals.

Stidham said he was also asked to provide certified copies of Board of Works minutes by the city attorney's office involving contracts for the purchase of garbage trucks. The information was necessary, he said, to fulfill a subpoena the city's street department received last month.

Wednesday's subpoena was the latest in a string delivered by the FBI to various officials. In July the FBI requested Mayor James Snyder's campaign finance records and records from his political action committee Portage Mayor Elect 2011. The Utility Services Board also received subpoenas that month seeking documents related to a trip Snyder took to Austria he initially funded through the department, but then paid back the cost.

Snyder declined comment Wednesday afternoon, but has previously said the city will cooperate with all requests.

10012014 - News Article - FBI continues to request information from Portage officials

FBI continues to request information from Portage officials
NWI Times
October 01, 2014
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/fbi-continues-to-request-information-from-portage-officials/article_63645550-b9a0-5c79-9004-62609660568f.html

PORTAGE | Another Portage official has received a federal subpoena seeking information on city purchases.

Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham confirmed Wednesday that he received an electronic subpoena from the FBI seeking records of all payments and invoices from Circle R Electric between Jan. 1, 2008 and the end of September.

Stidham also confirmed that he was interviewed last month by an FBI agent for more than an hour. During the interview, Stidham said they discussed a "wide range of topics" involving the mayor's office, Redevelopment Commission activities, property purchases and relationships between various individuals.

Stidham said he was also asked to provide certified copies of Board of Works minutes by the city attorney's office involving contracts for the purchase of garbage trucks. The information was necessary, he said, to fulfill a subpoena the city's street department received last month.

Wednesday's subpoena was the latest in a string delivered by the FBI to various officials. In July the FBI requested Mayor James Snyder's campaign finance records and records from his political action committee Portage Mayor Elect 2011. The Utility Services Board also received subpoenas that month seeking documents related to a trip Snyder took to Austria he initially funded through the department, but then paid back the cost.

Snyder declined comment Wednesday afternoon, but has previously said the city will cooperate with all requests. 

10012014 - News Article - Feds subpoena more Valparaiso records

Feds subpoena more Valparaiso records 

Post-Tribune 

October 1, 2014 

Updated: October 2, 2014 

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/30214843-418/feds-subpoena-more-valparaiso-records.html#.VDGXBeqYaM8

VALPARAISO -- Clerk-Treasurer Sharon Swihart has been served with a federal subpoena for records, City Economic Development Director Patrick Lyp said Wednesday.

“This is the only subpoena received by any entity associated with the City and no other subpoenas were served on anyone, nor have the FBI agents interview(ed) (or asked to interview) anyone associated with the City,” Lyp stated in an email Wednesday.

The subpoena ordered that the city turn over documents related to the Eastgate project, now known as University Promenade, a pair of condominium complexes.

The complexes sit on either side of University Drive between Lincolnway and Valparaiso University.

The FBI requested all documents on the sale of the land to Al Krygier, the developer who bought the land, from January 2008 through July 2014.

This included minutes from the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission meetings, records of bids and requests for proposals, all contracts and purchase agreements and records for advertising the sale.

In a statement Wednesday, Lyp and the city stated Valparaiso’s policy of full cooperation with the FBI remains.

The city adopted this police in August when FBI agents requested information on University Promenade from the Porter County Assessor’s office. At that time, the city gave FBI agents a seven-page narrative of the project from 2006 on, including information on the original Eastgate project.

Some of the documents the subpoena requested were ones the city handed over already, according to the statement.

The Assistant United States Attorney in the case “apologized for the unnecessary public action,” according to the city’s statements.

When the city originally handed the seven-page narrative to the FBI in August, it also released a press release stating the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission and its staff would “fully cooperate with the FBI.”

Lyp said the city did that because “it seemed pretty apparent they’d want to request documents from us.”

Eastgate was a project to beautify east Lincolnway by razing older buildings and offering grants for new facades in 2006.

The block now has seven university-style apartment buildings and with retail stores on the bottom and a Horizon Bank branch.

The Plan Commission currently has a request for a four-lot subdivision of the University Promenade property.

10012014 - News Article - Valpo receives subpoena for University Promenade project

Valpo receives subpoena for University Promenade project
NWI Times
October 01, 2014
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valpo-receives-subpoena-for-university-promenade-project/article_23604651-6aeb-5947-91c3-c28b2d2c847b.html

VALPARAISO | The FBI delivered a subpoena to the city clerk's office Tuesday asking for documents related to the University Promenade project.

A statement issued by city Economic Development Director Patrick Lyp said the city is cooperating with the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office but that much of the material requested previously was presented to the federal authorities.

"Back in August, and without the need for a subpoena, the city's Redevelopment Commission voluntarily produced to the FBI a seven-page narrative of the entire Eastgate project dating back to 2006, including all relevant documents," Lyp said in the statement. 

"As part of that voluntary submission, it was agreed that any further document request would be handled between lawyers and without need for a subpoena.

"Although subsequent inquiries were made by the city to the FBI as to whether additional documents were needed, no response was received and no documents or information was ever requested. 

After the subpoena was served (Tuesday), it was discovered the agent who served the subpoena had not spoken to the original agent assigned to the matter and had not reviewed the file, which included the narrative and relevant documents, some of which were the same documents requested in the subpoena."

The city's statement concludes, "The city respects the difficult job undertaken by all law enforcement officials and recognizes that as part of any investigation, resolution will not be immediate. The city will stand by its commitment to operate in good faith and provide whatever information is requested in order to bring the city's involvement to a close."
Items requested Tuesday included "all contracts, purchase agreements, leases, redevelopment agreements associated with the sale of the property," "any and all records of advertising done by the city regarding the request for proposal associated with the property sale" and "meeting minutes of the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission or any other relevant commission or board associated with the city ... wherein the sale of said property was discussed."

Lyp said many of the items requested were given to investigators in August when the FBI went to the Porter County Auditor's Office. The information from the auditor's office including aerial images of the site and sales disclosure on the six parcels involved with University Promenade. A copy of the check for the sale and a copy of the unsuccessful bid were among those items still to be provided by the city.

Although the request was made to the clerk-treasurer's office, Clerk-Treasurer Sharon Swihart said she was not in the office at the time the FBI appeared. No other subpoenas were delivered to any other offices or individuals. The subpoena covers the period between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2014.

The commission twice put the property up for sale. The first deal fell through when the recession hit, and the developer was unable to follow through with the agreement. The deadline for second agreement with Al Krygier had to be extended before it proceeded to completion.