INDIANAPOLIS — A former member of the Indiana House of Representatives has pleaded guilty a federal corruption charge.
Sean Eberhart, 57, a Republican who represented Indiana's 57th district from 2007-2022, agreed to plead guilty to "conspiring with others to solicit and receive the promise of future, lucrative employment with a gaming company in exchange for his support of legislation beneficial to the gaming company," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Indiana House District 57 included Shelby County and portions of Bartholomew and Hancock counties.
Eberhart served on the House Committee on Public Policy, which the DOJ noted had jurisdiction over matters that involve casinos and gaming in the state.
According to court documents, Eberhart accepted the promise of future employment at a gaming company called Spectacle Entertainment, with a salary of at least $350,000. In exchange, Eberhart allegedly used his position to advocate and vote for a bill with terms that were favorable to the company.
Those terms included "the transfer and relocation of ... two casinos, reducing the transfer free from $100 million to $20 million, and enacting tax incentives that would benefit Spectacle."
The plea carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release after a prison sentence.