Ex-Legion post chief must pay $416K

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The former financial officer of an American Legion post near Fort Wayne has been ordered to pay $416,000 in restitution for his role in what authorities said was the skimming of nearly $1 million from charity bingo games.

An Allen County judge on Tuesday also sentenced 68-year-old John Gahan to four years on probation after he pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of aiding corrupt business influence, The Journal Gazette reported ( http://bit.ly/JSTT9u ).

Defense attorney Robert Love said Gahan is retired and in poor health and never profited from the scheme while others involved did.

"He never got one cent, not one penny that was not authorized," Love said.

But Deputy Prosecutor Tim McCaulay said Gahan was part of a ring that resulted in actual losses to the American Legion Post.

Gahan was among five people arrested last year in the skimming of at least $988,000 from the bingo games at Legion Post 330 in New Haven that was illegally paid to workers who were supposed to be volunteers.

Prosecutors charged that Lana Brooks, 55, and Steven Bouse, 60, managed the games and two others had lesser roles. They all have pleaded guilty to various charges and are awaiting sentencing.