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Ex-Muncie Building Commissioner to serve 2 years in Federal prison for money laundering, wire fraud

Posted at 2:00 PM, Jan 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-22 14:00:38-05

MUNCIE, Ind.-- Former Muncie Building Commissioner Craig Nichols will serve two years in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud.

A judge sentenced Nichols to two years prison, followed by three years supervised release and he must pay $217,892 in restitution to the City of Muncie, Muncie Sanitary District and developer Dannar Construction.

Nichols reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in which he agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, and in exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed the remaining 32 criminal charges against Nichols.

He had faced 20 years in prison for each count.

Federal agents arrested Muncie Building Commissioner Craig Nichols in 2017 after the FBI searched his home and office at Muncie City Hall.

MORE | FBI removes documents during search of Muncie building commissioner's office

A grand jury indicted Nichols following a year-long investigation into city building permits.

The indictment said Nichols abused his position of trust by using sham bidding practices and submitting fraudulent invoices to steer work to his companies, and then bill Muncie more than $376,000 for work his company either never performed or performed at inflated prices.

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