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.