Kimberly Robinson, Calumet City Trustee, introduced her resignation from that place Friday, efficient instantly.
In a press release supplied to the Post-Tribune Sunday, Robinson expressed her “deepest gratitude to every” of her constituents for the “belief and assist” they’d positioned in her whereas she was in workplace. He didn’t clarify the explanation for his resignation, however mentioned it was necessary to make a press release as folks “might begin to hear data associated” to it.
Sources confirmed that Robinson is predicted to enter a responsible plea earlier than trial Monday in U.S. District Court in Hammond.
“It has been an honor to serve this vibrant group, and I’m happy with what we now have achieved collectively,” Robinson mentioned within the assertion. “Recently, our workplace supplied Calumet Township college students with extra faculty uniform vouchers than had ever been distributed in this system’s historical past. Thanks to our work, greater than 3,000 college students had been geared up for the primary day of college.
“As I step away from this function, I stay looking forward to the way forward for our township. I depart the City’s working fund within the black with money reserves of greater than $2 million in an emergency fund. Additionally, I’ve full confidence within the management that can comply with me and wholeheartedly assist the method of choosing a brand new trustee who will proceed our mission of progress and group service.”
Robinson, a former Gary metropolis probation officer who represented town’s fifth District as a councilman from 2008 to 2014, defeated Mary Elgin within the May 2014 Democratic main within the shadow of an FBI and IRS raid two months earlier, the Post-Tribune beforehand reported. He led the workplace by means of the controversial secession of the city of Griffith from Calumet Township and straightened out its monetary scenario after years of mismanagement, the Indiana State Board of Auditors mentioned in 2019.
Elgin pleaded responsible in 2018 to 2 counts of wire fraud, one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one depend of failure to file a tax return.
According to prosecutors, Elgin and his co-defendants: his son, Steven Hunter; former Calumet Township worker Ethel Shelton; and Alex Wheeler – used metropolis workers and places of work to run political campaigns and lift cash for Elgin fundraisers. Elgin was sentenced in May in federal court docket to a yr and a day in jail, adopted by a yr of supervised launch. She was additionally ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to the trustee’s workplace and $6,311 to the IRS. Hunter, in the meantime, pleaded responsible and obtained one yr of probation.
Once elected as a Calumet Township trustee in November 2014, Robinson left her job as chief of workers for the Lake County Treasurer’s Office.
Elgin was the second consecutive Calumet Township trustee convicted on public corruption fees.
In 2007, Dozier Allen, who served as trustee for 32 years, was indicted — 5 years after dropping to Elgin — on fees of diverting $120,000 in grants supposed for the township to himself. A jury discovered him responsible in April 2009 and he was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Robinson’s mom, Wanda Joshua, was Allen’s prime deputy and was convicted in that case as properly. Joshua, who obtained a 15-month sentence, was defended by former Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
Michelle L. Quinn is a contract reporter for the Post-Tribune.
