GOP lawmaker forced to resign after bizarre shoplifting scandal consumes his office

Indiana state Sen. Ron Alting, a Republican, says he’ll step down from the Senate after 28 years if voters send him back for another term, a few weeks after shoplifting allegations came to light, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reports.

A special prosecutor is reviewing several theft cases involving Alting at Walmart stores near Lafayette, and a new allegation this week concerns a store in Florida. No charges have been announced as of press time.

In a Facebook post, Alting said he’s been having extensive medical testing, with neurologists, geriatric and mental health specialists and an MRI, over changes in his judgment, behavior and thinking. Doctors are still working toward a diagnosis.

“I did things that were wrong and completely out of character for me,” Alting wrote.

He said he told Senate leader Rod Bray he’d resign. Alting, 70, is still on the ballot because voting has begun, against Democrat Natasha Baker. If he wins, Republicans would fill the seat through their party’s vacancy process. The Chronicle says that could help Republicans hold the seat since Baker has been gaining ground.

Alting, first elected in 1998, is the Senate’s longest-serving member and has led the Public Policy Committee since 2011.

Indiana's state Senate is already facing a significant shakeup, as President Donald Trump successfully had a number of lawmakers defeated in their primaries as punishment for refusing to move forward with mid-decade redistricting to give Republicans extra seats. Despite Trump's interference, some prominent opponents of redistricting held on.