Source: Cochran Firm Cleveland / Cochran Firm Cleveland
INDIANAPOLIS — Former state Representative Sean Eberhart will spend one year and one day in federal prison.
He pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in a gambling corruption case. The Republican from Shelbyville accepted a job with gambling company Spectacle Entertainment for at least $350,000 in exchange for voting for a bill from which Spectacle would benefit.
Court documents say an unnamed Spectacle executive came to Eberhart with the proposal. The executive fits the description of former Spectacle CEO Rod Radcliff, who has not been charged in the case as of yet.
On top of the prison sentence, Eberhart was also fined $25,000 and he will also have to pay another $60,000 in restitution.
Eberhart represented Shelby County, as well as parts of Bartholomew and Hancock County for 16 years until 2022. The charges came to light last year and he entered a guilty plea in late November.
Eberhart apologized at his sentencing and said he was “truly, deeply sorry for what I did.”
Eberhart is also the third former lawmaker to be sentenced in a years-long investigation by law enforcement into relationships between state leaders and the casino industry. Former lawmakers John Keeler and Brent Waltz did time in a case involving the funneling of money from casino executives to political campaigns.