A state audit released Monday accused Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. of improperly using nearly $300,000 for charity or church donations, golf outings and travel costs.
The 83-page report flagged 221 purchases totaling $265,000 from the jail’s commissary fund from January 2022 to December 2024 that violated state law, noting that Martinez often mischaracterized the expenses as “Prevent Juvenile Delinquency,” “(Juvenile) Crime Prevention,” and “Community Relations.”
In addition to the $265,000 spent, it cited nearly $25,000 in other “questionable” purchases with commissary money; almost $3,500 in non-employee travel expenses, including for Martinez’s wife; and required him to repay $59,000 for the audit’s costs.
Lake County Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond, by phone Monday. “I think I had a good, strong suspicion there was misuse. I didn’t realize the use was so blatantly for his personal benefit; That’s the shocking part.”
In his response to auditors, Repay wrote the Lake County Board of Commissioners asked for guidance “as early as 2019” for Martinez’s “irregular” purchases with commissary money
State auditors were performing an annual audit of the county’s 2022 expenses when they noticed that commissary funds were disbursed at Martinez’s direction rather than based on an actual vendor invoice, so they launched a special investigation of the commissary fund. Martinez claimed that purchases outside of those listed in the law are paid out of his campaign fund, but the state audit showed otherwise.
The audit report was sent to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office and local U.S. Attorney.
