The inspector
general's investigation, which covers the 2012 calendar year, found more
than 100 instances among 14 employees to support the wire fraud
allegations. Former Bennett chief of staff Heather Neal had 17 violations,
the document showed — the most among employees.
Among the
findings:
— Misuse of
state-issued/campaign SUV and driver:
The investigation
checked mileage logs, fuel card purchases and Bennett's calendar to come
up with 21 instances in which Bennett misused the state vehicle.
The report shows
Bennett allegedly falsified vehicle logs to hide misuse of a state-issued
Chevrolet Tahoe to travel to high-dollar fundraisers, including an
intimate fundraiser for then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney in
Evansville. It also says a state employee was directed to drive Bennett
and his chief fundraiser, Julie Southworth, to fundraising events, which
were often interspersed with official state events.
— Staff used for
political work on taxpayers' dime:
Indiana's ghost
employment laws bar state workers from doing political work on state time
and prohibit state officials from directing their employees to do campaign
work. But the investigation found multiple instances of state employees
doing political work while being paid by taxpayers.
Investigators
checked employee calendar entries against timesheets and found at least 56
occasions in which 14 employees did political work on the state clock.
One of those
employees was Neal, who was ordered to work as a "watcher" at the state
Republican Party convention on June 8, 2012, but was paid for a full day
of work by the state. Neal also coordinated campaign fundraising with
Bennett's fundraiser while on the clock.
Another was Adam
Baker, Bennett's driver, who was required to attend a Sept. 26, 2012,
campaign fundraising meeting with top Republican donor Christel DeHaan
just days after Bennett's team secretly changed the state's A-F grades for
schools to ensure DeHaan's charter school received an A.
— Payments
constituting wire fraud violation:
Wire fraud
charges are frequent in public corruption cases, built by showing that the
state transfer of payment to employees via their bank violates federal
rules.