Ben Shoulders, a former Vanderburgh County Commissioner, finds himself in hot water after serious allegations surfaced, accusing him of misusing campaign funds for an ill-advised shopping spree on high-value baseball cards. The sordid affair unfolded as a probable cause affidavit landed in Vanderburgh Circuit Court, revealing Shoulders’ questionable spending habits. It was alleged that Shoulders splurged a whopping $41,000 on eBay, courtesy of a debit card linked to his “Shoulders for Commissioner” account. However, the real kicker was how these purchases were meticulously mislabeled on his campaign finance reports, cleverly disguised as mundane items like “signs” and “banners.”
Among the eye-catching acquisitions were a $235 Johnny Bench rookie card and a $570 Satchel Paige card, innocuously camouflaged as campaign paraphernalia on official documents. While the majority of his reported expenses seemed above board, the conspicuous baseball card entries and an additional stash of nearly $500 worth of Pokémon cards, mistakenly tagged as “signs” from a local store, undoubtedly raised eyebrows among vigilant investigators.
The narrative took a curious turn when Shoulders himself raised the alarm bell by approaching the Evansville Police Department in October 2023, citing foul play on his campaign account. In a daring move, he pointed fingers at a phantom fraudster, alleging unauthorized charges on his debit card between May and August, which he conveniently blamed on the missing plastic. However, a deeper probe unearthed a trail of contradictory evidence, painting Shoulders as the sole authorized wielder of the account and hinting at a rather insidious modus operandi involving post-lost card purchases.
A damning revelation emerged from scrutinizing email correspondences, which confirmed a flurry of eBay transactions for coveted baseball relics, including prized possessions like the 1965 and 1967 Mickey Mantle cards and a 1966 Willie Mays card, all goodies bound for Shoulders’ humble abode, courtesy of his campaign war chest. The authorities assert that Shoulders brazenly exploited his campaign account to bankroll these ostentatious buys, betraying the trust of his constituents.
Darker shades of the saga surfaced when records exposed Shoulders’ audacious bid to pocket over $26,000 from Old National Bank’s fraud unit as reimbursement for the allegedly wrongful charges. His audacious ploy hit a snag when the bank brusquely shot down his plea for restitution, sending him reeling. The disgraced commissioner wasted no time in tendering his resignation, acknowledging, “It has truly been an honor to serve our great county as a public servant,” a thinly veiled attempt at damage control in the face of mounting accusations.
As the dust settled, Shoulders found himself in the crosshairs of the law, slapped with charges ranging from attempted fraud to willfully filing a false report. Freed on a modest $500 bond, he braced himself for the impending legal battle, awaiting his day in court. The plot thickened as the affidavit peeled back layers of subterfuge, unearthing troubling irregularities concerning checks ostensibly designated for charitable causes, yet conveniently diverted to a business account under Shoulders’ firm control. The once-prominent public figure now stands at a crossroads, grappling with the fallout of his alleged transgressions, a cautionary tale of power abused and trust betrayed.
