(La Porte County, IN) - A La Porte man is demanding an apology from two county officials whose corruption allegations made regularly for close to two years were dismissed this week by a Grand Jury.

 

At Wednesday's La Porte County Commissioners meeting, Rick Kentaft said Commissioner Joe Haney and La Porte County Auditor Tim Stabosz need to say they're sorry.  Kentaft said there was no evidence from the start, but they still kept up with their claims which the Grand Jury investigation produced no charges.

 

"How much money was wasted on this Grand Jury? Both of these men owe not only the taxpayers in this county a formal apology. They owe this board an apology and the county attorney an apology," Kentaft said.  Kentaft is a former La Porte County Sheriff's Office employee and once ran for sheriff.

 

Several counts, such as fraud, bribery, and intimidation, were looked at by a Grand Jury, which ruled there was nothing to warrant the filing of charges.

 

La Porte County Attorney Shaw Friedman, a central target of the allegations, said the ongoing "falsehoods" and "conspiracy theories" damaged citizens' faith and trust in government.

 

Friedman said the unsubstantiated claims also hurt the previously solid reputation of the county. He called for the allegations to stop now that the six-member Grand Jury has made its ruling.

 

"The time has come to end the baseless insistence that certain appointed or elected public officials have impure or corrupt motives," Friedman said.

Stabosz laughed at the thought of apologizing, then called the investigation "a sham." He said that La Porte County Prosecutor John Lake, being politically connected to Friedman, should have appointed an outside prosecutor to oversee the Grand Jury proceedings.  As a result, Stabosz said the ability to achieve an unbiased outcome was negatively impacted.

 

"John Lake should know better. It puts a stain on him and puts a stain on the county," Stabosz said.