EVANSVILLE — Former Vanderburgh County Commissioner Ben Shoulders pleaded guilty on Friday to a felony charge of filing a false report and agreed to pay restitution for using tens of thousands of dollars in political donations for lavish personal purchases.
After recent arrestees made routine first appearances in Warrick County Superior Court, where the case is being heard due to Shoulders’ deep ties to Vanderburgh County officials, Shoulders appeared alongside attorney Scott Danks to formalize the deal he’d struck with prosecutors.
“Is that your signature?” Special Judge Brett Roy asked as he reviewed the plea agreement.
“Yes sir,” Shoulders replied.
“So what this tells me is you’re pleading guilty in open court to a Level 6 felony of filing a false report,” Roy continued. “Is that correct?”
“Yes it is, your honor,” Shoulders said.
The lone felony count is a far cry from the five charges and two infractions prosecutors levied against the former Democratic commissioner in the wake of an Evansville Police Department investigation that concluded he made more than $41,000 in eBay purchases using a debit card assigned to his “Shoulders for Commissioner” account and used political contributions to obtain Indiana University men’s basketball season tickets, among other purchases.
In a statement to the Courier & Press, Danks limited the scope of Shoulders plea agreement to admitting guilt for “filing an incorrect campaign finance report.”
“Mr. Shoulders and his family are pleased to have this matter behind him,” Danks’ statement concludes.
Had Shoulders taken the case to trial, he would have faced one count of attempted fraud, a Level 5 felony; two Level 6 felony counts of filing a fraudulent report; misdemeanor counts of false informing and commingling committee funds with personal funds; and two infractions for “unpermitted use of money contributions,” court records state.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors recommended a one-year sentence suspended to probation. Should Shoulders stay out of trouble for six months – meaning no new charges or arrests – the court will reduce the Level 6 felony to a Class A misdemeanor.
Shoulders also agreed to pay $57,164.25 in restitution, which the Vanderburgh County Clerk will disburse to five area nonprofits in accordance with state rules governing the liquidation of campaign committee funds, according to Chief Deputy Prosecutor Winston Lin.
“This will have a tremendous impact on the lives of children, families, animals, crime victims and others in need, which is especially welcome news in this holiday season,” Lin said in a statement to the Courier & Press.
Danks told the court Friday morning Shoulders had already presented a check to the clerk’s office, but that officials there said they could not take it without an order from Roy. The judge said he would ensure the clerk’s office got its court order.
According to Lin, the following nonprofits will equally split the funds, amounting to about $11,432.84 each:
Arrest came after Shoulders called Evansville police himself
Evansville police arrested Shoulders in November 2024 after a more than year-long investigation into his campaign committee’s finances. In an unusual twist, the inquiry came as a result of a complaint Shoulders filed himself: Shoulders contacted police in October 2023 to report fraudulent eBay purchases made through his “Shoulders for Commissioner” bank account.
But detectives’ findings as to an array of suspicious, high-dollar purchases ultimately led to Shoulders rather than any outside party staring down charges.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in support of those charges, detectives stated Shoulders used tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money for lavish personal spending and then tried to report the expenditures as fraudulent in an effort to recoup some of the money.
For the $41,000 in eBay purchases, Shoulders concealed the true nature of the expenditures on his campaign finance forms, police said.
“Signs” were actually a $235 Johnny Bench rookie card, the affidavit states. A “Banner” was a $570 Satchel Paige card.
A detective investigated reported donations to charities as well, including the Ronald McDonald House and SWIRCA. When investigators called those organizations, however, they claimed they never received any such donation. Police say checks that correspond with the days of the supposed donations ultimately ended up in one of Shoulders’ business accounts.
The campaign finance report
From there, the detective dove into Shoulders’ campaign finance report from March 2024.
“Most of the items appeared to be normal expenses associated with a political campaign,” the affidavit states. “However, there were a few that were concerning.”
Those included the eBay purchases for “sign” and “banner” that allegedly turned out to be baseball cards. There were also two expenditures to Hobby Den that totaled almost $500. They were both marked “sign.” But when police obtained receipts from the store that corresponded to the listings on the report, they showed the money had actually been spent on two Pokemon cards.
Email and bank records showed evidence of IU season ticket purchase
In June 2024, a detective also obtained all the statements for the “Shoulders for Commissioner” bank account, as well as email records from Shoulders’ Yahoo account.
In the bank records, police noticed a $3,000 purchase from Oct. 5, 2020 that traced back to Indiana University. It corresponded with an Oct. 5 listing on the campaign reports in which Shoulders reported spending $3,000 for “sponsorship.”
After searching the email records, the detective eventually found emails from the IU ticket office from Oct. 1, 2020 asking Shoulders to update his payment information. Later that day, another email from IU came in thanking Shoulders for his payment. The total was $3,000.
“The last four digits of the card are the same listed on the bank statement, and the dollar amount is the same,” the detective wrote in the affidavit. “This indicated that Shoulders used his campaign funds to make the payment toward his 2020-2021 IU season tickets.”
Shoulders political career already done at time of arrest
Shoulders had already resigned from his position on the Vanderburgh County Commission prior to his arrest.
The Democrat gave up his seat at the start of 2024, selecting not to complete his second term and not seek a third.
Shoulders listed his reason for resigning as a new position in the private sector. In February, it was announced he had joined American Structurepoint. He previously worked in commercial banking at Banterra.
“I sincerely want to thank my supporters, colleagues, friends, family members and fellow taxpayers who have been with me since we launched our first campaign in December of 2015,” Shoulders stated. “It has truly been an honor to serve our great county as a public servant.”
Shoulders’ career as a commissioner was mostly a smooth road, but about a year into his second term he was ensnared in public controversy after school board member and local business owner Amy Word accused him of deceit amid an affair.
Prior to that, Shoulders had held a consistent image and space in the community, with deep family ties to both politics and the city itself.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Ben Shoulders cuts plea deal with prosecutors in campaign finance case
Reporting by Sarah Loesch, Houston Harwood and Jon Webb, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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