Prosecutors attack White’s residency claim

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Updated: March 3, 2012 11:42AM

NOBLESVILLE — Prosecutors expect to wrap up their voter fraud case against Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White on Thursday.

Prosecutors hope phone records will prove White was living in a condo he bought with his fiancee before he voted in the 2010 Republican primary. White claims he was living at his ex-wife’s home at the time, coping with campaign pressures and a complicated personal life.

Prosecutors say White lied about where he lived on his voter registration and continued to collect his pay from the Fishers Town Council after moving out of his district. He later resigned from the council and gave back part of his salary.

White would be removed from office and could face prison time if convicted.

On Wednesday, prosecutors presented testimony and documents attacking White’s claim that he wasn’t living in the condo before the primary.

Amanda Ricketts, a former employee of the Indiana Department of Resource, where White worked until early 2010, said White asked that his final paycheck from the DNR be sent to his new condo, not his ex-wife’s house.

However, the town of Fishers’ payroll records show that White listed his ex-wife’s address as his home.

Prosecutors also introduced emails between White and Tammi Kaeser, who sold him the condo, to try to prove White moved into it months before he used his ex-wife’s address to vote in the May 2010 primary. Kaeser also testified that she saw White at the condo often.

Indiana State Police Detective Paul Hansard testified about documents including White’s voting records and marriage license.

White, 42, has said the charges he faces ignore a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for the statewide office he won that November.

He said he stayed at his ex-wife’s house when he wasn’t on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after his remarriage.

White has resisted calls to resign from Democrats and Republicans, including Gov. Mitch Daniels.

A Marion County judge already has ruled that White should be ousted, but that decision has been appealed.

The same judge also said White should be replaced by Vop Osili, the Democrat he defeated in the November 2010 election by about 300,000 votes. But state law calls for Daniels to appoint a successor.