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.