Former Indiana lawmaker ponders prison and regrets deal

Source: FILE – Then-Senator Brent Waltz, R-Indianapolis, speaks during a joint hearing at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Jan. 6, 2012. The former Indiana state senator was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, to 10 months in prison for his role in a plot that illegally funneled money from a casino company into his unsuccessful 2016 congressional campaign. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

INDIANAPOLIS – Brent Waltz, a former congressman from Indiana, claims his conviction for violating campaign finance laws and making false statements to the FBI was the result of unfair actions by the federal government.

Waltz was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison in August 2023. He told WIBC's Kendall and Casey that he took a deal to avoid a trial that could have resulted in a much longer prison sentence due to the complexity of campaign finance laws.

Waltz, a former Indiana state senator and Johnson County councilman, pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally channeling campaign contributions and making false statements.

Waltz chose a deal to avoid the risk of a jury trial over complicated campaign finance laws.

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“The maximum sentence was about 52 months,” he said. “That was enough to get a person's attention. I remember telling my lawyer, 'I don't think I did anything wrong,' and he said, 'It doesn't matter.'”

He wrote a book about his experiences called POW: Prisoner of Washington: A Conservative's Journey Through Our Justice System.

Waltz served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland (FCI Ashland) in Kentucky, a medium-security prison for men. He noted that the facility houses a wide variety of criminals, from white-collar criminals to others accused of drug trafficking, including fentanyl.

“Someone had a problem with fraud related to tobacco crops,” he said. “They had insured their tobacco crop and apparently there was a problem with that.”

Waltz claimed he became a “shot caller” on his 80th day in prison. A “shot caller” typically controls the smuggling of contraband such as alcohol or food. He also said that inmates had smuggled women in for sex before he arrived at the prison.

“One of my former colleagues in the camp, a doctor, told me that they brought two prostitutes here,” he said. “The prostitutes stayed for a long time and in the end half of the camp caught an infection.”

Waltz regrets the deal and would like a jury trial if given the chance. He is trying to have his conviction overturned after being released from prison in March of last year.