Ex-judge's trial must begin as scheduled
NWI Times
Jan 27, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/news-in-brief/article_75179ea0-a016-5a74-801a-d3430bda8def.html
The federal fraud and racketeering trial of former Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga will proceed April 3 as scheduled, a judge ruled this week.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich ruled Wednesday that there will be no extensions in the case.
Riga's attorney, Nick Thiros, requested the trial be slated later in the year to accommodate his long-planned three-month vacation.
Riga pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and one count of racketeering. She's accused of duping more than 1,175 minor offenders who appeared before her in court by ordering them to attend counseling at a company she owned in the name of a family friend.
Prosecutors allege she pocketed more than $30,000 in fees the offenders were required to pay for the counseling sessions.
Former S'ville judge's trial may be postponed again
COURTS: Deborah Riga accused of fraud, racketeering
NWI Times
Jan 26, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/former-s-ville-judge-s-trial-may-be-postponed-again/article_03c3c45f-648c-5aee-92d4-71e54608b4ea.html
HAMMOND | The federal fraud and racketeering trial of a former Schererville town judge may be postponed again.
Deborah Riga was originally scheduled to appear for trial before U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon on Aug. 1 and was rescheduled for Nov. 7 and again for April 3. Her attorney last week requested the trial now be slated for sometime in or after September.
Riga pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and one count of racketeering on charges she duped more than 1,175 minor offenders who appeared before her in court by ordering them to attend counseling at a company she owned in the name of a family friend. Riga is accused of pocketing more than $30,000 in fees the offenders were required to pay for the counseling sessions.
The 20-page indictment -- handed down in August 2004 -- alleges Riga extorted money from another counseling service working for the court, cheated taxpayers out of rent to the town, used public employees to help collect her illegal profits and cheated the state out of revenue she diverted to the town treasury to improve her image.
Riga's attorney, Nick Thiros, said he would be out of town in February, March and April for a long-planned vacation and that the trial date would not allow him the time he needs to prepare.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw argued late last week that Thiros has had ample time to review discovery materials for the trial. Szewciw said the federal agents who investigated the case have been reassigned to different positions, with one scheduled to go to Washington, D.C., at the end of April and the other to Iraq in February and to New York in July.
Thiros' office filed a response, saying it would now be available for trial in the first three weeks of June.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich has yet to rule on the matter.
Political and proud -- how refreshing
MARK KIESLING
NWI Times
Jan 9, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/political-and-proud----how-refreshing/article_a686f0b2-be02-528a-a31f-d15447711f07.html
If she is nothing else, Nancy Fromm is refreshing.
The owner of Addiction & Family Care, a Hammond-based drug and alcohol counseling center, Fromm admits up front how her extensive political connections got her started and keep her going.
I'd much rather hear this than listen to people who are neck-deep in the Lake County political swamp talk about how they are nonpolitical and are not beholden to anyone, blah blah blah.
Fromm cheerfully responded to a bashing from Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando in my Dec. 4 column in which the judge accused Fromm of playing politics and charging clients double what other counseling agencies were charging.
Villalpando said he was outraged (insert indignant thump on desk here) that such gouging was taking place and said he stopped sending people to Addiction & Family Care.
Nonsense, said Fromm. "We have never charged double compared to what other agencies charge," she said. "Judge Villalpando took the business away from us for political reasons, period!
"I accepted that. I'm political -- I grew up in a political family. I don't think I'd be involved in politics if I didn't understand it. But I am, and used it to start this business."
And to keep it going, she hired one of Lake County's top political operatives, Bobby Cantrell, as a consultant to get the contracts flowing. And it worked.
Villalpando, a former state rep, had wanted to become a judge but never applied through the county's judicial nominating commission. Instead, as a legislator he created a new courtroom and became the only applicant for the job.
"Judge Villalpando used politics to get himself appointed to the bench," Fromm said. "Now he doesn't like politics when people want to run against him."
Former East Chicago City Councilman Joe De La Cruz brought Cantrell and Villalpando together, and soon Fromm had a contract with the court to provide counseling services.
But then Cantrell and Villalpando had a falling out, and the contract work from Villalpando's courtroom dried up like a Texas arroyo in September.
"It's just political infighting, it's expected," Fromm said. "Say what you want about me politically, but I don't lie about my business practices. Judge Villalpando stopped sending us business because of politics, even though I told (public defenders) Garry Weiss and Peter Katic last spring that I would help the judge with his re-election."
Well, Bobby Cantrell is not helping Villalpando with this election. There's little doubt he's going to throw support to Villalpando opponents Stan Jablonski or Ed Fontanez -- or both.
"Bobby is what he is -- political," said Fromm. "He doesn't claim to be anything else."
And in this era of good government studies and would-be white knights descending from on high to be the saviors of Lake County, sometimes such candor can be a refreshing thing.
Mrvan severs ties with counseling agency
Cut contract is one of four that will save $131,000
NWI Times
Jan 7, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/mrvan-severs-ties-with-counseling-agency/article_8d6759e4-bc36-561a-84de-a50a9e6cb5a4.html
NORTH TOWNSHIP | North Township Trustee Frank Mrvan and Nancy Fromm, the politically connected owner of a Hammond counseling service, have parted ways.
Fromm's services had been contracted by Mrvan's predecessor, longtime trustee Greg Cvitkovich, who resigned last October in pleading guilty to tax fraud charges.
As a newly elected member of the township's advisory board, Mrvan had taken issue with the stress management training ordered by Cvitkovich, arguing it was a waste of money, should not be mandatory or include massages.
Fromm is owner of Addiction and Family Care, a Hessville counseling business whose lucrative government contracts came under scrutiny two years ago during the course of a federal vote fraud investigation into the elections of East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick and Schererville Judge Deborah Riga.
The probe revealed Fromm paid another political operative, Robert Cantrell, a former East Chicago Republican Party chairman turned Democrat, referral fees for clients steered toward the agency. Cantrell is the township's East Chicago office manager.
Ultimately, neither Fromm nor Cantrell were charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Fromm is cooperating with the government's case against Riga, who was later indicted, in part, for allegedly extorting money from Fromm so Fromm could keep her contract with the Schererville court.
Cvitkovich refused to rescind Fromm's contract at the time of the controversy and later renewed a $32,400 contract, which would have expired this coming August.
Mrvan said he and Fromm instead agreed to separate amicably with the last monthly payment made last November.
Mrvan said though he had not favored certain aspects of the program, the overall quality of Fromm's services were not a factor in the contract's termination.
Mrvan said he did not discuss the termination with Cantrell, who in November told The Times he is no longer associated with Addiction and Family Care.
Neither Fromm nor Cantrell returned telephone calls from The Times.
The Fromm contract is one of four that Mrvan has eliminated since taking office in December. Together the contracts will save the township nearly $131,000 a year.
Workfare and Wicker Park employees will take over the maintenance of the township's cemetery, saving $31,200 annually.
With his administration's eye on cutting taxes and operating efficiently, Mrvan said poor relief clients will have to work off the aid they receive.
"Along with Wicker Park employees, we can maintain that cemetery on our own," he said.
Mrvan also cut an annual $30,000 contract for janitorial services in the East Chicago office and did not renew an annual $37,000 contract for information technology.
"The elimination of the contracts frees up money for the administration to focus on getting people jobs, to make sure individuals work off the aid they receive and to put an emphasis on education," Mrvan said.
