Brief: Mayor guilty of casino tokens theft

The 63-year-old Republican said he will leave his political future up to the citizens of Alexandria, the Indianapolis Star/News reported.

Wehsollek was charged with felony theft for taking the tokens, worth about $150, on the Argosy riverboat at Lawrenceburg last summer. In a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor charge of conversion.

A felony conviction would have forced Wehsollek to give up the mayor's post in Alexandria, population 5,700, as well as abandon his re-election campaign, the Star/News reported.

"While it was never my intent to take property which did not belong to me, I freely admit that I failed to exercise proper judgment under the circumstance and that I did exercise unauthorized control over property which in fact belonged to another person," the mayor said in a statement.

A judge placed Wehsollek on a year's probation, ordered him to perform 40 hours of community service and required him to pay $225 in fines and court costs.

The crime was captured by a surveillance camera. It shows Wehsollek carrying a token bucket, then reaching between slot machines and leaving the area carrying two buckets, State Police Detective Rodney Stratton told the Star/News.

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