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Michael O'Donnell Pleads Not Guilty To Charges In Superseding Indictment

Nadya Faulx
/
KMUW

Sedgwick County Commissioner and former state legislator Michael O’Donnell pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

It was O’Donnell’s second appearance before federal Judge Gwynne Birzer; this time was for a superseding indictment that expanded the total number of charges against him to 26.

Read the superseding indictment here.

O’Donnell is accused of misusing campaign funds raised during his runs for state Senate and the Sedgwick County commission. He was first charged in May and pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of money laundering, wire fraud and bank fraud.

O'Donnell lost his bid last month to have all charges against him dismissed. His defense argued the investigation was an overreach by federal prosecutors.

Defense attorney Mark Schoenhofer said at the time it was just the first step in a long process, and said he may file additional motions to dismiss in the future.

Follow Nadya Faulx on Twitter @NadyaFaulx. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Nadya Faulx is KMUW's Digital News Editor and Reporter, which means she splits her time between working on-air and working online, managing news on KMUW.org, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. She joined KMUW in 2015 after working for a newspaper in western North Dakota. Before that she was a diversity intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.