Federal prosecutors in Northwest Indiana have charged several elected officials with tax evasion.

Among those indicted is a police officer and a longtime councilwoman from Gary.

Marilyn Krusas has served on the Gary Common Council for years and is considered its conservative conscience. But Thursday, the 69 year old councilwoman is facing a charge of tax evasion.

U.S. Attorney for Northern Indiana David Capp announced the charges this morning in Hammond. Capp alleges Krusas failed to file tax returns since 1991.

But she’s hardly the only one charged.

Longtime Hammond City Councilman Alfonso Salinas is charged with taking a bribe from the owner of a local tree service. That owner was also indicted on Thursday.

Juda Parks, an East Chicago City Councilman who also works as a police officer in that Indiana city, is charged with tax evasion.

Lastly, the former appointed head of the library system in East Chicago was indicted for tax evasion and overstating expenses for reimbursement.

Manuel Montalvo, 38, of East Chicago, was charged in an indictment with two counts of filing false tax returns for years 2009 and 2010.
The indictment alleges that Montalvo, the former director of the East Chicago Public Library, overstated unreimbursed business expenses and medical and dental expenses.

Those expenses amounted to $32,000 in medical and dental expenses and $47,000 in employee and business expenses over the two years.