The fraud trial for Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell (R) began on Monday in a federal court in Wichita, Kansas. The trial is expected to last five days.

 

O’Donnell is accused of taking $10,500 from campaign funds for his personal use. In May 2018, O’Donnell was indicted by a federal grand jury on 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. The indictment alleges that in 2015 and 2016, O’Donnell wrote checks from his campaign account to three of his friends who cashed the checks. Prosecutors allege that O’Donnell’s friends did little or no work on his campaign and that some of the money from the cashed checks went into O’Donnell’s personal checking account.

 

O’Donnell has served on the Sedgwick County Commission since 2017. His term expires in 2020. Prior to his election to the county commission, he served in the Kansas State Senate from 2013 to 2017 and on the Wichita City Council from 2011 to 2013.