Former Gary Mayor Jerome Prince appeared in federal court in Hammond Wednesday to plead guilty to using $26,750 in campaign funds to buy a home in the city’s Miller section as he took office.
Prince, 60, admitted Oct. 9 to one count of wire fraud, in exchange for federal prosecutors not pressing more charges against him or anyone else. He agreed to repay the money.
U.S District Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich told Prince he had a $20,000 unsecured bond, meaning he didn’t have to pay to be out, but it would be held over him, for example, possibly if he missed a court appearance.
His next court date is not scheduled.
If the plea is accepted by Judge Philip Simon, Prince is requesting that he be sentenced to one year of probation without any conditions of confinement or home detention and he would be required to pay a fine of $26,750, which reflects the amount Prince used for personal reasons from the committee.
“I misled donors by falsely representing and causing to be falsely represented, directly and by omission, that donations made to the Committee to Elect Jerome Prince for Mayor campaign committee were being used for campaign purposes, when, in fact, I used a portion of the money provided by donors to the Committee to Elect Jerome Prince for Mayor campaign committee for my own personal purposes, including using committee funds as part of the real estate transaction to finance the purchase of my personal residence,” wrote in a statement in court filings.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Benson and Kevin Wolff went with defense attorney Kevin Milner to speak with Rodovich after the hearing.
Prince released a statement after the hearing.
“After careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to accept a plea agreement in relation to the investigation into my use of campaign funds.” Prince said via text Wednesday. “I understand the seriousness of the situation and the importance of taking responsibility for my actions. I sincerely apologize to my donors, constituents, and everyone who placed their trust in me over the past 24 years.”
“This decision allows me to focus on my family and friends, and I hope to move forward with the lessons learned,” he wrote.
On Oct. 10, 2019, Prince admits he wrote a check to cash from the Committee to Elect Jerome Prince for Mayor in the amount of $7,000. The next day he used $5,000 of that amount to make out a cashier’s check to a real estate brokerage as the initial payment for the personal residence, records state. The $7,000 withdrawal was not reported on the required report of his campaign committee’s expenses. Prince was the only signatory authority on the account in 2019.
On Oct. 14, 2019, he wrote another check from the committee to an unnamed company in the amount of $19,750, which he also failed to list on the committee’s expenses, according to the case information. The funds were transferred from the company to an unnamed individual, and on Nov. 21, 2019, he caused a wire transfer of $31,100 from the personal bank account of that individual to Chicago Title Company.
Prince was defeated in the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary by current Gary Mayor Eddie Melton.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.