(La Porte, IN) - La Porte County Attorney Shaw Friedman is asking the LaPorte County Prosecutor to investigate whether a crime has been committed by La Porte County Auditor Tim Stabosz for withholding an $11,000 check for his services approved by the La Porte County Commissioners.

 

He’s also asking the Indiana State Board of Accounts to admonish or cite Stabosz for “unlawful behavior” by not releasing the payment to him. His request was made in a letter to Indiana State Board of Accounts General Counsel Paul Lottes.

 

In the letter, Friedman said that withholding payment of the entire claim is being done “in retaliation for the County Commissioners exercising their right under statute to file a collection claim.”

 

Last week, a lawsuit filed on behalf of the LaPorte County Commissioners asks a judge to issue an order for Stabosz to pay $1,100 he is withholding from Friedman for work performed in August. Though the Commissioners voted to make the payment, Stabosz is still withholding the fee. The auditor is also withholding $10,000 from Friedman for work performed in September, again, despite the commissioners approving that claim.

 

“I am today requesting SBOA immediately provide admonishment and/or citation to Mr. Stabosz that he cannot unlawfully withhold such sums without facing potential civil and/or criminal liability," Friedman stated in the letter.

Friedman also alleged in the letter that Stabosz is acting on a threat on October 12th to freeze certain payments if he was sued by the Commissioners and not provided legal counsel by the county government. Permission was granted Monday by the La Porte County Council for Stabosz to secure legal counsel paid for entirely by the county government.

 

Friedman said withholding payment by threat is “not based on any policy or regulatory authority, but was purely a threatened act of revenge or retaliation.”

 

“I would submit that nowhere in the training that SBOA provides for Auditors or anywhere in the statutes or administrative regulations is their authority for an Auditor to vow to intentionally withhold payment of a claim as a retaliatory measure for some act performed by the elected County Commissioners,” he said in the letter.

In the letter, Friedman also said “you well know that I have requested assistance numerous times from the SBOA this year in properly advising Mr. Stabosz on his duties and responsibilities under law with very little relief forthcoming from your agency.”

 

“Certainly, the SBOA can – at long last - muster the intestinal fortitude as an agency to formally admonish and cite Mr. Stabosz regarding his latest outrageous and unlawful behavior,” he said.