Mayor charged with wire, tax fraud
Stahura served as elected official for 35 years, Whiting mayor since 2004
Whiting Mayor Joseph Stahura has been charged with wire fraud and filing a false income tax return, officials announced Thursday, pointing to multiple occasions since 2014 that he and his wife withdrew money from his campaign account and gambled at a casino the same day.
Joseph Stahura, 64, entered into a plea agreement indicating he’d plead guilty to both charges, according to a statement from United States Attorney Thomas Kirsch II. His wife, Diane Stahura, 64, entered into a separate agreement acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to charge her with wire fraud, according to the statement.
Joseph Stahura, who has served as an elected official for 35 years and mayor since 2004, “illegally used his campaign funds for personal activities and expenditures and lied about it on his publicly filed campaign reports and tax returns,” for more than 5 years, Kirsch said in the statement.
According to court documents, he faces as much as 23 years in prison.
“Today’s charges and guilty plea are another black eye for Northwest Indiana,” Kirsch said. “While most elected officials serve the public professionally and honestly, some do not. Those who seek illegal personal gain by virtue of their public office will be held accountable.”
From February 2014 through 2019, the couple used approximately $255,000 of the funds in the “Committee to Elect Joe Stahura” to pay for personal expenditures, including gambling, paying credit card debt and financially supporting an adult daughter, according to a release.
The couple held fundraising events and sought donations from people and businesses to raise money that Diane Stahura would later be transferred to their personal bank account, according to the statement.
After withdrawing the funds from their personal bank accounts, the couple — either individually or together — would go gamble at a casino the same day, according to court records. They would go to casinos in Indiana, and as far as Iowa and Michigan, according to court records.
For example, on Dec. 24, 2014, Diane Stahura transferred $1,500 from the Committee to Elect Joe Stahura’s bank account to their personal bank account and gambled at a casino the same day, according to court records. On March 29, 2016, $503.95 was withdrawn from the account at an ATM in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and on that day Joseph Stahura gambled at a casino, according to court records.
Other times, the transfers were used to pay personal credit card debt — like a June 9, 2014, transfer of $9,002.03 from the campaign account to their personal account to pay Citicards debt, according to court records.
The couple would also transfer money or write checks for their daughter, according to court records, like a Feb. 5, 2019, transfer of $1,000 from the campaign account to their daughter’s account.
Between 2014 and 2019, Stahura filled out campaign reports “with false and misleading information and by omitting material information from the reports,” according to the release.
In April 2019, Stahura filed a false tax return by listing his gross income without adding the amount stolen from his campaign account in 2018, which was approximately $51,480, according to the statement. On the same campaign account, he overstated the “loan repayment amount” to his campaign by approximately $40,000, according to the statement.
Indiana campaign finance law states that candidates could not use committee money for a primarily personal purpose or mix personal funds with campaign funds, according to the statement.
In a statement, Stahura said “transparency and honesty are the foundation of public leadership” and that he “take(s) pride in supporting Region businesses and Casinos.”
In the statement — addressed to residents, colleagues and friends — Stahura said he accepted a plea agreement “related to the misuse of campaign funds and the related tax consequences.”
“I care deeply about our family and do not hesitate to help when they need it. All I can say at this time is that I used some funds from my campaign account for personal use. I routinely paid it back, (but) the circumstances have resulted in wire fraud and income tax violations,” he said in the statement.
He apologized in the statement and said he is “prepared to take responsibility” for his actions, and assured residents that “no city money was ever touched.”
He said that he will resign as mayor “in the coming days.”
“Thank you for all your support over the years – it has been my honor to serve the public, and ultimately the decision to accept the plea agreement is in the best interest of my family and the citizens of Whiting,” he said in the statement.
Lake County Democratic Party Chairman James Wieser said he was upset to hear about the charges against the Whiting mayor.
“I’m almost at a loss for words. I’ve known Joe for a long time ... and he’s been an absolutely outstanding mayor,” Wieser said. “To hear the problems and difficulties he’s had personally, it just sadness me. I don’t justify it or condone it, I’m just sad.”
In the years Wieser has known Stahura, there was “never a hint of wrongdoing” around him, and he was always praised for doing an excellent job as mayor. Stahura helped renovate Whiting, like Oil City Stadium and along the lakefront, Wieser said.
“What he’s done for that city is unparalleled ... and it’s so sad that won’t be his legacy,” Wieser said. “Instead, his legacy is that he’s been convicted.”
If the court accepts Stahura’s plea agreement, any prison sentence and restitution will be set by a judge.
The case has been assigned to Judge James T. Moody, who on Aug. 5 resentenced former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich to more than 12 years in federal prison on public corruption charges.