Pamela Griffin Frizzelle, 54, of Merrillville, Indiana, is going to prison for shaking down small business owners in a rigged tax assessment scheme. Frizzelle, a former Level II Assessor for Calumet Township, was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day by Chief Judge Philip Simon after pleading guilty to three counts of Hobbs Act Extortion.
Federal prosecutors say Frizzelle abused her position for years, demanding cash from property owners in exchange for slashing their tax bills. The scam ran through the heart of Lake County’s assessment system, with Frizzelle promising favorable rulings — and sometimes outright fabricating them. One owner, running a laundromat, handed over $800 in cash just to get a refund on past taxes.
That refund? More than $7,000, illegally obtained through backdated documents and false appeals Frizzelle pushed through her office. She convinced supervisors the appeal was valid, knowing full well it was a lie. The money went to the business owner — and the cash kickback went straight into Frizzelle’s pocket.
Investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered a pattern: pay up, get assessed lower. Frizzelle wasn’t just bending rules — she was selling justice. Other business owners admitted to paying her under the table, trusting she’d deliver tax reductions that never should’ve been granted.
Now, she’s ordered to repay the Lake County Assessor’s Office $7,128 in restitution — a fraction of the damage done to public trust. Her 12-month-and-a-day sentence ensures she’ll serve time in federal prison, not a county work release.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary T. Bell, part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana. U.S. Attorney David A. Capp emphasized that corruption in local government won’t be tolerated — even when it hides behind paperwork and quiet deals in back offices.
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Key Facts
- State: Indiana
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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