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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Ind. Courts - Robert Cantrell found guilty on all charges [Updated]

Joe Carlson reports today in the NWI Times:

HAMMOND | East Chicago political operative Robert Cantrell was convicted on all 11 of the federal fraud counts in the public corruption indictment against him.

After about five and a half hours of deliberation Friday night, the jury of seven men and five women found Cantrell guilty of illegally taking kickbacks from a public contract, hiding the profits from the Internal Revenue Service, and illegally getting health insurance for his two adult children -- John and Jennifer. * * *

Cantrell was charged with four counts of depriving the public of honest services, three counts of insurance fraud using the U.S. mail and four counts of filing false income tax returns between 2000 and 2003.

The indictment accused him of taking secret cash kickbacks from a contract between his then-employer, the North Township trustee's office, and his political ally, Nancy Fromm. He failed to disclose financial interest in the contract as required by state law.

Cantrell, 66, did not take the stand in his own defense.

Government and defense lawyers delivered impassioned closing arguments Friday morning, each accusing the other of building legal arguments out of conjecture and lies to reach conclusions that defied common sense. * * *

Essentially, prosecutors say Fromm paid Cantrell about $152,000 that he didn't pay taxes on, including commissions for the North Township contract, in addition to getting Fromm to add Cantrell's adult children to her group insurance plan illegally.

The trial comes as a result of at least four years of investigation of Cantrell by the Lake County Public Corruption Task Force. Fromm, the government's star witness, said whole swaths of county leaders were under Cantrell's political influence.

Andy Grimmof the Gary Post-Tribune reported yesterday in a story that began:
Jurors have begun their deliberations in the fraud trial of Lake County power broker Robert J. Cantrell.

Defense attorney Kevin Milner rested his case without calling a single witness, reading only a brief statement regarding a stipulation that prosecutors did not contest statements about Cantrell’s 22 years of service in the U.S. Army and his accomplishments as a high school and college basketball star.

In closing statements to the jury, both Milner and Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw painted Cantrell as one of Lake County’s most shrewd and well-connected politcal players. Szewciw charged that Cantrell used those connections to defraud taxpayers by negotiating contracts with the North Township Trustee’s office and Addiction and Family Care, a counseling firm that paid Cantrell as much of half the money it received.

Milner maintained that someone as cagey as Cantrell would never have risked criminal prosecution and the thousands of dollars he was making from commissions that did not violate state ethics laws with the elaborate scam outlined during the seven-day trial.

For background, start with this ILB entry from June 6th.

[Updated] Here is Andy Grimm's latest story now available on the P-T website. Some quotes:

Jurors on Friday found Robert J. Cantrell guilty of all 11 counts of fraud in a trial of one of Lake County's most infamous political figures.

Jurors deliberated until 8:45 p.m. on six days of witness testimony that built the case that Cantrell literally peddled his legendary political connections, taking in hundreds of thousands from a drug counseling firm he helped win dozens of Lake County government contracts.

Much of that money was disguised as paychecks for his son and in off-the-books cash. * * *

In a move worthy of Cantrell's reputation for craftiness, defense attorney Kevin Milner entered a motion Friday morning that called for Judge Rudy Lozano to enter a not-guilty verdict for Cantrell, citing a procedural lapse by prosecutors.

Milner noted that no witness ever properly identified Cantrell in the courtroom, a routine part of testimony familiar to most watchers of courtroom dramas. While Szewciw and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Ault consistently asked witnesses if they recognized the defendant, they never asked them to identify Cantrell by pointing him out or describing him in the courtroom.

Lozano, who said he noticed witness Nancy Fromm gesture and look at Cantrell repeatedly during her two days on the witness stand, chastised prosecutors Wayne Ault and Szewciw, but said he would reserve the right to rule on that later.

Lozano set a sentencing hearing for Oct. 28. Cantrell, 66, faces up to 152 years in prison. * * *

Much to Milner's chagrin, the case against Cantrell was also an indictment of the shadowy role of clout in winning lucrative government contracts. At its height, AFC held contracts with courts in Schererville, East Chicago, Lake Station and several Lake County courtrooms, including the one belonging to Cantrell's daughter, Judge Julie Cantrell.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 7, 2008 08:36 AM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions