United States Attorney Joseph S. Van Bokkelen

Northern District of Indiana

5400 Federal Plaza, Suite 1500

Hammond, IN 46320

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         CONTACT: Mary L. Hatton

April 7, 2006                                                                           PHONE: (219) 937-5603

Fax: (219) 852-2770

FORMER KEENER TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES INDICTED

Hammond, IN—The United States Attorney's Office announced that a Grand Jury sitting in Hammond, Indiana, returned the following Indictment on April 4, 2006:

Michael Orsburn, age 54, and his wife, Teresa Orsburn, age 44, of Demotte, Indiana were indicted for mail fraud and honest services fraud resulting from a scheme to embezzle money from Keener Township (Jasper County) checking accounts. The fifteen count indictment was sealed until the defendants surrendered on April 6, 2006.

 Michael Orsburn was the elected Keener Township Trustee from January 1999 to his resignation on March 31, 2005. Teresa Orsburn was appointed Deputy Trustee from 1999 to her resignation in March 2005. She was appointed to this position by Michael Orsburn. From 2000 to 2005, Teresa Orsburn wrote approximately 117 unauthorized checks from the Keener Township checking account made payable to herself or to Michael Orsburn. Most of the unauthorized checks were written in erasable ink. When the cancelled checks were returned from the bank with the monthly statements, Teresa altered the checks to make it appear that they were payable to a township vendor. She also made false entries in the check register to disguise the true payee. The scheme was discovered in March 2005 by the Board of Trustees who examined the township’s bank records.

These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. This has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch, who can be reached at 219-937-5500.

The specific sentence in each case to be imposed upon conviction will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The United States Attorney's Office emphasized that an Indictment is merely an allegation and that all persons charged are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

###