Hamilton Co. Prosecutor To Appoint Special Prosecutor To Investigate Charlie White

Hamilton Co. Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp tells WRTV she plans to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether Republican Secretary of State candidate Charlie White fraudulently voted in the wrong precinct in order to keep his seat on the council of the Town of Fishers. This really is window dressing at this point on the part of Leerkamp, who is already under fire for her mishandling of the criminal charges against several Carmel basketball players accused of sexually assaulting a black freshman member of the team, because Leerkamp admits no findings are likely to be rendered until after the election. WRTV's Norm Cox reports:

Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp said Thursday she will appoint a special prosecutor to look into complaints against the Republican candidate for secretary of state, but it likely won't happen in time to satisfy Democrats' demands for quick action.
Democrat Vop Osili forayed into Republican Hamilton County on Thursday to ask the Republican prosecutor to investigate the Republican county chairman, Charlie White, who's running against Osili for Secretary of State, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Osili and the Democrats have seized on several admitted missteps by White, such as voting from his former home on the west side of Fishers in the primary, months after moving into this condo on the east side of town, and continuing to represent his old district on the town council even after moving away.
They have said they want him charged with a voter fraud felony, and they want it done before the November election, something they got no encouragement on from Leerkamp.
"I'd like to say I can help you in terms of getting it done before the election, but investigations take their own time, especially if there's a special prosecutor involved," Leerkamp's chief deputy, Jeffrey Wehmeuller, told Osili.

Meanwhile, Republicans were striking back, charging Osili with several campaign finance violations, such as having anonymous contributors.
He promised to check into it, but said even if the charges were true, they were easily corrected, and much less serious than White's.
6News tried to find White on Thursday, but he was not at his old home, his new home or his campaign office, where staff members were vague about where he was, the special prosecutor request or their involvement, if any, in the accusations against Osili.
 
A Republican state committee representative later confirmed that it was the party organization, not White, that had brought the accusations against Osili.
As for the special prosecutor, Leerkamp said that it had always been her thinking to appoint one.

She said that would probably happen before the election, but that it would be very unlikely the special prosecutor would produce any findings before the balloting.