HAMMOND, Ind. (AP): A judge has sentenced a northwestern Indiana official to 18 months after he admitted ordering employees to do campaign work on county time.
 
The Munster Times reports U.S. District Judge James Moody on Thursday also ordered former Lake County Surveyor George Van Til to serve three years on supervised release after he leaves prison and to pay more than $26,000 in restitution to Lake County.
 
The 67-year-old Van Til pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors have said Van Til ordered at least three county employees to complete re-election campaign work for which the employees were compensated from the county's payroll between 2007 and 2012.
 
Van Til's attorney had asked that he be sentenced to probation and home detention, in part because of his poor health.