Former Calumet Township secretary convicted of public corruption seeks leniency

HAMMOND — A secretary to disgraced former Calumet Township Trustee Mary Elgin hopes to avoid the imprisonment her one-time boss suffered for public corruption.

Ethel Scott-Shelton is asking be released on probation when U.S. District Court Judge Joseph S. Van Bokkelen sentences her Wednesday for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.

A federal jury last year convicted Scott-Shelton of helping Elgin shake down township employees to kick back part of their salaries for Elgin’s re-election campaigns as well as work for her political benefit on public time.

Scott-Shelton's defense attorney, Andrea E. Gambino of Chicago, wrote a memo to the court last weekend arguing Scott-Shelton deserves leniency for her previous law-abiding history and her work as a steel union official and civil rights advocate.

Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/former-calumet-township-secretary-convicted-of-public-corruption-seeks-leniency/article_14e2df01-5a4d-51ca-a2df-e8a5bfbbcfdc.html
(Northwest Indiana Times)