Feds drop ethics charges against Commissioner Michael O’Donnell, expand other counts

A federal grand jury has more than doubled the total number of wire fraud and money laundering counts against Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell.

Those actions are contained in a new 26-count indictment of O’Donnell filed Tuesday, three days before a scheduled hearing on a motion by O’Donnell to dismiss charges against him.

The new indictment supersedes an indictment originally filed April 25.

Missing from the new indictment are five counts related to filing false expense reports to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission related to O’Donnell’s campaigns for County Commission and state Senate. O’Donnell served in the Senate before running for and winning a seat on the commission.

O’Donnell’s lawyer, Mark Schoenhofer, could not immediately be reached for comment, his office said.

But in his motion to dismiss the charges against O’Donnell, Schoenhofer had argued that the ethics counts were purely a state issue and not a matter for federal prosecution.

“This indictment breaks precedent of federal deference to state enforcement of campaign finance misconduct of candidates for state or local political office,” the dismissal request said. “County prosecutors, in conjunction with the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, routinely resolve campaign finance violations of state and local candidates at the state level through criminal prosecution, civil fines, and administrative sanctions.”

But while the grand jury dropped charges related to the false campaign report, the balance of the new indictment increased the number of criminal charges O’Donnell is facing on allegations of wire fraud and money laundering.

O’Donnell, who is accused by a grand jury of misspending thousands in election campaign funds and trying to cover it up, now faces 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

He had previously been charged with 12 criminal counts, to which he pleaded not guilty in May. The original dozen counts filed against O’Donnell included five counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, as well as five counts of bank fraud.

O’Donnell is accused of converting campaign donations received during his state legislative and Sedgwick County Commission bids to his personal use and/or gave money from his campaign accounts to friends for non-campaign-related purposes.

The new indictment charges him with a count of wire fraud for each of 23 instances in 2015 and 2016 where checks written to three of O’Donnell’s friends were drawn on the “Michael for Kansas” and “Michael for Sedgwick County” campaign accounts he maintained at Sunflower Bank and Vintage Bank in Wichita.

The money laundering counts allege he then took some of the cash and deposited it into his own personal checking account at Intrust Bank.

Instead of charging O’Donnell with a crime for each of the questionable transactions in the original 12-count indictment, the grand jury grouped some of them together. Jim Cross, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister, said superseding indictments often make changes to how counts are worded or alleged crimes are charged for clarification.

O’Donnell’s indictments cite $10,500 in questionable transactions. He is due in court for arraignment on the new indictment Aug. 28, according to court records.

O’Donnell remains free on an unsecured bond of $5,000. He continues to serve as a county commissioner pending the outcome of the federal case.

This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 4:00 PM.