Day 13: Jury to continue deliberating in Lake County Sheriff John Buncich's corruption trial Thursday
NWI Times
August 23, 2017
HAMMOND — Jurors deliberated for four hours Wednesday in the public corruption trial of Lake County Sheriff John Buncich before going home.
The eight-man, four-woman jury retired to their jury room about 5:20 p.m. after hearing two hours of testimony from the final witnesses and three hours of closing arguments by Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson and the defense team of Bryan Truitt and Larry Rogers.
The jury will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Buncich was in financial difficulty between 2003 and 2008 when he was out of office and was forced to spend his retirement nest egg of more than $500,000 and borrow heavily from friends and former employees to make ends meet.
Benson reminded jurors they heard Buncich on an FBI surveillance audio tape complain he had been forced to loan $85,000 to his re-election campaign and he wanted that money back in his personal bank account before he left office.
Benson said two towing firm owners, Scott Jurgensen, a former Merrillville Police Department officer and confidential FBI informant, and William "Willie" Szarmach, now a cooperating government witness, testified Buncich accepted tens of thousands in cash from them in return for promises they would receive more lucrative towing work from his department.
Buncich is pleading not guilty to six counts of wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and bribery. He testified over three days, denying all wrongdoing.
Both sides rested their cases and the judge denied a defense motion to declare Buncich not guilty.
Benson used the 13th day of the trial to emphasize the government's allegations with video and photographic evidence that Buncich used his campaign fundraising as cover for a scheme to solicit kickbacks from the dozen towing firms doing business with county police.
Defense lawyers argued Buncich has had a spotless reputation for honesty during his more than four decades as a county police officer who has been elected the county's top law enforcement official four times since 1994.
Rogers told jurors, "What the government has done over the past two weeks is systematically dirty up the sheriff so you will believe he is guilty as charged."
Rogers said the FBI paid Jurgensen $130,000 over a five-year period to pursue Buncich. Rogers said it was the choice of the FBI to have Jurgensen pay the sheriff in cash and lure him into incriminating statements.
Jurgensen wore audio and video recorders. Timothy Downs, the sheriff's former second in command who pleaded guilty late last year to conducting the sheriff's political campaigning on county government time, also wore a wire.
"The government was 100 percent in control of the situation. They produced, directed, scripted and acted this out, seeking a conclusion that was not there," Rogers said.
Benson replayed for jurors a videotape of Downs walking into the sheriff's office
An FBI video surveillance recording of: Buncich's second-in-command Timothy Downs delivering $7,500 July 15, 2015, to Buncich in the sheriff's office.
An FBI video surveillance recording of Buncich leaning into Szarmach's tow truck and Jurgensen giving Buncich $2,500 April 22, 2016, in the parking lot outside of Delta Restaurant in Merrillville.
An FBI video surveillance recording of Jurgensen giving Buncich $2,500 on July 21, 2016, in the parking lot outside of Delta Restaurant in Merrillville.
FBI surveillance photographs of a meeting Sept. 2, between Jurgensen and Buncich in which Jurgensen gives the sheriff $7,500.
Benson asked jurors, "Did he look shocked or did he look like he did it before? He seems very comfortable putting the money in drawer of his desk, owned by Lake County taxpayers."
Benson said the money exchange July 21, 2016, between Buncich and Jurgensen "looks like a hand-to-hand drug deal. This is the highest ranking law enforcement officer in Lake County."
He told jurors, "He lied straight to your faces. Maybe he thinks you are dumb and can't decide. He's dumb, cocky, arrogant and that's why he's seated there (in court) today."
Benson and Rogers battled over whether Buncich took $3,500 in cash from the driver's seat of Szarmach's tow truck April 22, 2016.
The FBI camera only shows Buncich leaning into the truck. Its door blocks the view of what happened next. Szarmach said Buncich took envelopes of money.
Rogers said Szamach cannot be believed and the sheriff wouldn't have had time in the few seconds he is off camera to grab cash. Benson said of Buncich, "See him lean in? He had no other reason to lean over into the truck."
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