The mayor of Whiting, Indiana, has agreed to plead guilty to wire and tax fraud, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Joseph Stahura, 64, and his wife admitted to using campaign funds for personal expenditures including gambling, credit card debt and providing financial support to an adult daughter.
“Today’s charges and guilty plea are another black eye for Northwest Indiana,” U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II said in a statement. “Mr. Stahura, an elected official for over 35 years, illegally used his campaign funds for personal activities and expenditures and lied about it on his publicly filed campaign reports and tax returns. He knew his conduct was illegal, yet he persisted in it for over 5 years.”
Stahura has been the mayor of Whiting since 2004. Previously he served on the Whiting city council for 20 years.
From February 2014 through 2019, Stahura and his wife spent about $225,000 of campaign funds for personal purposes. Stahura also filed campaign reports with false and misleading information, the department said.
In April 2019, Stahura filed a false tax return and incorrectly listed his gross income.
“Public corruption continues to be a high priority for IRS Criminal Investigation”, Special Agent in Charge Kathy A. Enstrom of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office, said in a statement. “Public officials stealing campaign funds for personal purposes is an unacceptable practice and IRS Criminal Investigation will be there to uncover the fraud and tax evasion in order to bring the dishonest officials to justice.”
