An employee with the Calumet Township assessor’s office is accused of extorting five businesses in order to lower their personal property assessed values, according to a federal indictment.
Pamela Griffin Frizzelle, 52, of Merrillville, faces seven counts of Hobbs Act extortion, according to the indictment, filed Wednesday and unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Hammond.
It was unclear as of Friday morning whether Frizzelle has been arrested or made her initial appearance yet.
According to the indictment, Frizzelle used her position as a level II assessor, in which she worked with small businesses to help them complete their personal property tax assessment forms, to extort the businesses from March 2013 through January.
She would help them lower their assessed values in exchange for money, including $1,000 from what’s identified as Business 1, $400 from Business 2, $600 from Business 3, $600 from Business 4 and $1,000 from Business 5. She’s also accused of taking another $200 from Business 2 on behalf of Business 4, for a total of $3,800.
Calumet Township Assessor Jackie Collins said Friday that Frizzelle was fired after the office learned about the investigation, which was several months ago. Collins said Frizzelle began working for the office in either 2006 or 2007.
Collins said she was surprised when she learned about it.
“The entire office was in shock,” she said.
She’s also confused how the crime could have happened, as the office relies on an honor system in which businesses report their own personal property assets to come up with an assessed value. Collins said that no one should pay any of her employees for any services as they are all paid by the county and are not allowed to charge residents for their work, something that was also mentioned in the indictment.
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