Grand jury indicts Aaron Schock on wire fraud, theft counts

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Bringing down Aaron Schock

Reporter on 'Downton Abbey' decoration

WASHINGTON – The Illinois congressman who resigned amid scrutiny of lavish spending — including remodeling his Capitol Hill office in the style of the television series "Downton Abbey" — was indicted Thursday on 24 federal counts ranging from theft of government funds to filing false federal income tax returns.

The 52-page indictment alleges that Aaron Schock spent $40,000 in government funds to redecorate his Washington office, including $5,000 on a chandelier, and asked the House to reimburse him for nearly $30,000 worth of camera equipment. It also accuses him of running up a $140,000 mileage tab over six years, reimbursements for 150,000 more miles than his vehicles actually traveled.

The 35-year-old Republican from Peoria is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, five of falsification of election commission filings, six of filing false federal income tax returns, two of making false statements and one each of mail fraud and theft of government funds. A conviction on just one count of wire fraud alone carries a maximum 20 year prison sentence.

"Mr. Schock held public office at the time of the alleged offenses, but public office does not exempt him or anyone else from accountability for alleged intentional misuse of public funds and campaign funds," the U.S. attorney in Springfield, Jim Lewis, said in a statement announcing the indictment.

Before the charges were announced, Schock's attorney, George Terwilliger, called the indictment a "misuse" of prosecutorial power by the Justice Department.

"This indictment will look bad, but underneath it is just made-up allegations of criminal activity arising from unintentional administrative errors," Terwilliger said in a statement. "These charges are the culmination of an effort to find something, anything, to take down Aaron Schock.

Once a rising star and prodigious fundraiser for the GOP, resigned in March 2015 amid intensifying scrutiny over real estate deals, extensive travel that he documented on his social media accounts and other spending documented by The Associated Press and other media outlets. The reports raised questions about improper mileage reimbursements, trips on donors' aircraft and more.

The former congressman downplayed the allegations in June, saying any wrongdoing was "honest mistakes."

In his own statement Thursday, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Schock said he never intentionally did anything wrong and that he was eager to defend his name and reputation.

"As I have said before, we might have made errors among a few of the thousands and thousands of financial transactions we conducted, but they were honest mistakes — no one intended to break any law," he said.

The charges are the culmination of 19-month investigation that included two grand juries that Schock said "poked, prodded, and probed every aspect of my professional, political, and personal life."

"Like many Americans, I wanted to have faith in the integrity of our Justice Department," he said. "But after this experience, I am forced to join millions of other Americans who have sadly concluded that our federal justice system is broken and too often driven by politics instead of facts."

Schock began his career as a successful 19-year-old write-in candidate for school board and became the youngest legislator ever elected to the Illinois General Assembly at 23. In Congress, he replaced Republican Ray LaHood, who became President Barack Obama's Transportation secretary. Ray LaHood's son, Republican Darrin LaHood, took Schock's congressional seat after a special election in September 2015, following Schock's resignation.