08112015 - News Article - FBI visits Porter County auditor's office

FBI visits Porter County auditor's office
NWI Times
August 11, 2015
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/fbi-visits-porter-county-auditor-s-office/article_fb076754-3560-5f4b-ad17-62b16eb05495.html

VALPARAISO | FBI agents visited the Porter County auditor's office Monday as part of an undisclosed investigative action, agency spokesman Dave Crawford said.

Crawford confirmed reports of the visit, but declined to go into detail about the target of the investigation.

The visit is the the latest in what is becoming an ever-widening investigation into local units of government, including the county and cities of Valparaiso and Portage.

Porter County Auditor Vicki Urbanik was out of town for a conference Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

FBI agents visited the Porter County assessor's office a week ago where they targeted property tax appeals from 2012 and 2013, assessor's attorney Christopher Buckley said at the time.

The agents from the Merrillville FBI office did not specify the reason for the visit, Buckley said. They did not have subpoenas and thus did not review or walk away with any appeal records, he said.

Federal agents have been visiting various Porter County government offices for nearly two years, looking at a variety of areas of operations. The investigations have also targeted Valparaiso and Portage.

There have been no indictments as of yet stemming from the investigations.

08052015 - News Article - FBI pays another visit to Porter County government

FBI pays another visit to Porter County government
NWI Times
August 05, 2015
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/fbi-pays-another-visit-to-porter-county-government/article_66fa64ee-1c18-52e6-9688-524c4d6bc939.html

VALPARAISO | Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid yet another visit Tuesday to the Porter County government building.

The target this time was the county assessor's office and property tax appeals from 2012 and 2013, according to the assessor's attorney, Christopher Buckley.

The agents from the Merrillville FBI office did not specify the reason for the visit, Buckley said. They did not have subpoenas and thus did not review or walk away with any appeal records, he said.

The Merrillville office of the FBI referred an inquiry by The Times to its Indianapolis bureau which had no comment.

No further details were available from Buckley or Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder.

Federal agents have been visiting various Porter County government offices for nearly two years, looking at a variety of areas of operations.

The investigations have also targeted the University Promenade development in Valparaiso and various records in the city of Portage, including campaign fund expenditures of Portage Mayor James Snyder.

There have been no indictments as of yet stemming from the investigations.

08052015 - News Article - FBI seeks records on commercial property assessment appeals

FBI seeks records on commercial property assessment appeals
Chesterton Tribune
August 05, 2015
http://chestertontribune.com/PoliceFireEmergency/fbi_seeks_records_on_commercial.htm

Porter County Assessor Attorney Christopher Buckley confirmed with the Chesterton Tribune and other media Tuesday that agents from the FBI’s Merrillville offices came to the Assessor’s office that morning and asked for documents regarding appeals of commercial properties between 2012 and 2013.

In a statement, Buckley said that agents asked to speak with the Assessor’s Director of Commercial Operations for the information but “were not equipped with subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s office, and therefore, did not retrieve or review any individual appeal records.”

The agents did not specifically state what information they were interested in, Buckley said.

Buckley told the Tribune on Wednesday that the appeals in question were exclusively for commercial properties and were settled by the Assessor’s office before they would have been assigned to the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.

Included in appeal cases is non-disclosure information that would require a subpoena in order to be obtained, Buckley said he told the agents. The agents then left the building, and it’s possible they may return, he said.

Buckley said it was about 10 a.m. when the agents arrived at the Assessor’s Office inside the County Administration Building in Valparaiso and they left at approximately 11:30 a.m.

County Assessor Jon Snyder declined to comment on the matter.

The investigation so far
This is the second time in the past two months the Tribune has received reports of the FBI seeking to investigate Porter County Government offices. Witnesses reported seeing agents enter the County Commissioners’ office in June, but no one from the Commissioners’ office would make comments regarding the visit.

The FBI in November 2013 took documents related to the December 2012 contract between the County Commissioners and Porter Regional Hospital concerning the employee wellness plan. Since then the agency has also acquired conflict of interest disclosure statements from 2007 to 2013, payroll information for the County Expo Center from 2013, bid proposals related to 2010 and 2011 contracts with the County Highway Department, and building permits for Porter Regional Hospital and its adjacent medical center.

In July 2014, agents began looking into Portage Mayor James Snyder’s campaign finance reports and the Citizens for Snyder political action committee finance report from 2011.

Last September, agents entered the Porter County Auditor’s Office and obtained copies of two sales disclosures related to the Valparaiso Promenade development involving the City of Valparaiso’s Redevelopment Commission.

The FBI has not yet made public any results or indictments.