Ben Shoulders, once a prominent figure as the Vanderburgh County Commissioner, now finds himself entangled in a web of controversy and allegations. The former commissioner has been accused of utilizing campaign funds in a rather unconventional and lavish manner – splurging over $41,000 on valuable baseball cards through eBay. However, the story takes an intriguing turn as these expensive purchases were cleverly disguised within his campaign finance reports.
Among the notable acquisitions that raised eyebrows were a $235 Johnny Bench rookie card and a $570 Satchel Paige card, both deceptively labeled as generic “signs” and “banners” in his campaign documentation. While most of the listed expenses seemed to pass as ordinary campaign-related costs, the obscure entries for the baseball cards, along with additional transactions amounting to almost $500 for Pokémon cards, masquerading as innocent “signs” from a local establishment, were undeniably suspicious.
The saga began when Shoulders himself reached out to the Evansville Police Department in October 2023, alleging fraudulent activities on his campaign account. He claimed to have misplaced his debit card around April, disassociating himself from the disputed charges between May and August. However, as investigators delved deeper, contradictory evidence surfaced, unveiling that Shoulders was the exclusive authorized user of the account and transactions persisted even after he reported the card as lost.
Further scrutiny into Shoulders’ email correspondence unveiled a trail of multiple eBay transactions for rare baseball cards, including coveted pieces like the 1965 and 1967 Mickey Mantle cards, alongside a 1966 Willie Mays card – all conveniently dispatched to Shoulders’ residence, funded through his campaign account.
In a perplexing turn of events, financial records illustrated Shoulders’ audacious attempt to claim reimbursement of over $26,000 from Old National Bank’s fraud department for the purportedly fraudulent charges. However, his plea was met with refusal. Interestingly, merely a month subsequent to this thwarted endeavor, Shoulders opted to step down from his commissioner role, bidding adieu with the gracious sentiment, “It has truly been an honor to serve our great county as a public servant.”
Subsequently, Shoulders found himself in handcuffs, facing an array of charges such as attempted fraud and filing a false report. Following his release on a $500 bond, he awaited his preliminary court appearance. Moreover, the affidavit delved into further irregularities involving checks ostensibly marked for charitable contributions, which were redirected into a business account controlled by Shoulders, painting a picture of a tangled financial web orchestrated by the former commissioner.