03272006 - News Article - Few staff changes at North Twp. office - Cantrell retained barring political activity on the clock - ROBERT CANTRELL

Few staff changes at North Twp. office
Cantrell retained barring political activity on the clock
NWI Times
Mar 27, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/few-staff-changes-at-north-twp-office/article_808c684d-df97-57fc-b62f-63b5c3b4c7d4.html
NORTH TOWNSHIP | The township's East Chicago office manager, political operative Robert Cantrell, will remain on the township's payroll barring evidence of political activity on the clock, Trustee Frank Mrvan said.

Named in November to serve out the term of former Trustee Greg Cvitkovich, Mrvan immediately severed the township's ties to Cantrell's business associate, Nancy Fromm, who was recently indicted on an obstruction of justice charge.

Cvitkovich had contracted Fromm's counseling agency, Addiction and Family Care, to provide stress management classes and later renewed a $32,400 contract despite opposition from Mrvan, who negotiated an early end to the contract set to expire in August.

Although Cantrell told The Times in November that he is no longer associated with Fromm's agency, Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando has alleged Fromm and Cantrell have a history of demanding referrals from Villalpando's court.

Fromm is charged with withholding income records related to her work with local courts. The information was sought as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of a kickback scheme.

Cantrell has not been charged.

"Each individual at the township, as long as they do the job and adhere to the policies about no politics on company time, at this point will continue being employed," Mrvan said. "Any infractions of the employee manual will be disciplined individually."

Facing a primary election in May, Mrvan has made few staff changes except for designating a chief deputy from among the ranks, adding two intake clerks, and creating one position and expanding another to put his agenda on a fast-track.

Mrvan aims to return township recipients to self-sufficiency by providing the training clients need to land the jobs his office is recruiting through the township's job coordinator.

The coordinator's position is newly created but goes hand in hand with that of a project coordinator who's been given the added task of laying the base for enhancing educational opportunities.

Mrvan said the township has been linking up with Sawyer College and Ivy Tech Community College to provide the training needed in fields with high placement opportunities such as medical assistant.

Case managers will offer the opportunity to clients they determine to have the interest and aptitude, he said.

Mrvan said a database is being developed to track job openings with local businesses and trade unions who agree to commit to hiring the township's clients.

"They will be given the opportunity to go to work," he said.

"We're past the point of talking," Mrvan said. "We have to start getting results."

03212006 - News Article - Attorney cries political foul - FEDERAL COURT Fromm released on bond after short time in inmate holding cell - ROBERT CANTRELL

Attorney cries political foul
FEDERAL COURT Fromm released on bond after short time in inmate holding cell
NWI Times
Mar 21, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/attorney-cries-political-foul/article_124ea0ce-c7eb-529b-816a-1e88efc89def.html
HAMMOND | A defense lawyer is attacking U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen for filing his latest public corruption charge only six weeks before the May 2 primary election.

"I find both the substance and timing of this indictment to be particularly unsettling," Highland lawyer J. Michael Katz said Tuesday afternoon.

Katz is defending Nancy K. Fromm, 55, owner of Addiction and Family Care, from a charge she is obstructing Van Bokklen's Operation Restore Public Integrity, an attack on public graft.

Fromm is accused of withholding income records of her politically connected counseling service from a grand jury looking into allegations that private businesses pay kickbacks to public officials to get government work contracts.

Fromm isn't accused of paying kickbacks, only withholding information from state and federal investigators.

U.S. marshals briefly locked Fromm behind bars in a federal courthouse holding cell early Tuesday before she could bond out on the obstructing justice charge.

Katz said afterward he believes the indictment and the attention the U.S. attorney has given it with a full blown news conference Monday reveals a political motive.

"I don't recall a previous instance in the past 35 years where the U.S. attorney has used an indictment and press conference to influence the outcome of a local election.

"I only wish I had been invited to participate in the U.S. attorney's press conference. I would have appreciated the opportunity to ask him some questions," Katz said.

Van Bokkelen declined comment on Katz's remarks, according to his spokeswoman Mary L. Hatton.

Fromm and her service has contributed thousands in political donations to a variety of public officials and helped the election campaigns of several local government officials with whom Addiction and Family Care receives business.

Fromm and her business consultant, Robert Cantrell, reportedly are active in a number of contested races for sheriff, County Council and other local offices.

Cantrell openly is seeking the defeat of Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando, who is facing the voters for the first time in his judgeship and two challengers, Stanley Jablonski and Eduardo Fontanez.

Villalpando alleges Fromm and Cantrell have been demanding business referrals from his court and his refusal triggered their opposition to him.

Cantrell, who isn't accused of any wrongdoing, said earlier this month he considers Villalpando a lazy judge who doesn't deserve a new term.

Fromm appeared before Magistrate Paul Cherry to be told she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Katz complained about Fromm being put into a holding cell with other inmates before the hearing began. An unidentified member of the U.S. Marshal's Service, which provides court security, told the court it is routine to hold criminal defendants until they are released on bond.

Cherry said he would make sure she didn't have to go back into the cell before she signed the necessary paperwork to be released on a $20,000 bond without any further restrictions on her freedom.

Fromm is set to return to court April 17 to enter her plea to the charge.

03212006 - News Article - Someone's on the federal hook - ROBERT CANTRELL

Someone's on the federal hook
MARK KIESLING
NWI Times
Mar 21, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/someone-s-on-the-federal-hook/article_782b5ed5-5fcd-552b-b204-910bca282c1d.html
For whom is the indictment of Nancy Fromm bad news?

It's really not bad news for Fromm, owner of a lucrative and politically connected counseling service, Addiction and Family Counseling of Hammond.

She has only been indicted on an obstruction of justice charge, which means she wasn't giving up something federal investigators wanted on their way somewhere else.

For the feds to get what they want, they needed some leverage -- hence the indictment.

But where is the investigation going? Fromm's network is so connected to so many people that her Monday indictment has people spinning scenarios that sound like a combination of the court of Czar Nicholas II, the Byzantine empire and dinner with the Borgias.

Political operative Bob Cantrell is a consultant to the service, which is or has been used by a number of judges, Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez and former North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich. Cantrell also works for North Township's East Chicago office, and his daughter Julie is one of the judges who refers convicted drug and alcohol abusers to the service.

So does U.S. Attorney Joe Van Bokkelen have his sights set on one or both of the Cantrells? Other judges also have used the service, described by Van Bokkelen as a "pay to play" operation that depended on kickback payments to vendors to thrive.

County commissioners recently, quietly did not renew the service's contract with the Lake County Jail, where the service was paid $84,000 annually to counsel prisoners.

And Frank Mrvan, the new North Township trustee who replaced the indicted Cvitkovich, has quashed the township's contract, although he continues to employ Bob Cantrell. Former Schererville Town Court Judge Deb Riga, who is also under indictment, likewise used the service.

Bob Cantrell was an adviser to successful politicians such as Treasurer John Petalas, Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. and County Clerk Tom Philpot, who employs Cantrell's son John as his child support division lawyer, even though child support responsibility has been transferred to the state.

John Cantrell also was McDermott's law partner before McDermott ran for mayor. He's been employed in Hammond City Court by Judge Jeff Harkin, who also uses the service.

There are so many potential clients out there that it's entirely possible one lawyer could end up having to decide which defendant or target to represent.

Obviously, not everyone mentioned above is facing the threat of indictment. But because politics is followed in Lake County as a spectator sport, speculation is running rampant.

Everyone knows Nancy Fromm isn't the target, not merely with an obstruction of justice charge facing her. She's just the conduit, the line on which the bigger fish can be hooked.

We know Van Bokkelen's got the rod and reel in his hands.

Who's got the hook in his mouth?

03212006 - News Article - Family adviser faces charge - Addiction center owner accused of not turning over records to police - ROBERT CANTRELL

Family adviser faces charge 
Addiction center owner accused of not turning over records to police
Post-Tribune (IN)
March 21, 2006
Nancy Fromm, at the center of some of Northwest Indiana's juiciest political scandals, will face federal charges of obstructing a grand jury investigation.

The owner of the politically connected Addiction and Family Care Inc. was indicted Monday on a single count of obstruction of justice. U.S. Attorney Joseph VanBokkelen said she is accused of not turning over records to the grand jury in September 2005 as ordered. Specifically, the U.S. Attorney's Office believes she kept a system of index cards with income records. VanBokkelen said when the U.S. Attorney announced its Operation Restore Public Integrity, officials were warned that lying to the grand jury or obstructing its search would be punished.

"This is another case of someone not getting the message," he said.

Fromm and her counseling service remain at the center of scandal. She is listed as the victim in the upcoming federal trial of former Schererville Town Judge Deborah A. Riga. The judge awaits trial April 3, accused of extorting money from Fromm for the addiction counseling program.

Asked about her role, VanBokkelen said, "She's the defendant in this case so she's not the victim in this case. Is she the victim in the other case? That is for a jury to decide."

In previous years, federal agents have carted away records of former North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich, who pled guilty in 2005 to federal tax charges, including records concerning Fromm's contract to provide counseling service to township employees.

Both Fromm and Cvitkovich have been linked to Bobby Cantrell, the notorious Lake County political fixer, who has worked for both of them at one time or another. Cantrell has collected a referral fee from Fromm.

Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando has referred evidence he compiled about the use of Addiction and Family Care by Lake County judges to the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.

Among Fromm's clients are Cantrell's daughter, Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell.

Villalpando has accused Bobby Cantrell of putting up candidates against him in the May primary because he was reluctant to use Fromm's counseling service in his own court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne T. Ault said Fromm continues to have 12 to 18 contracts with various government agencies, including the city of Hammond and local courts, from Fromm's offices in Hammond and Merrillville.

VanBokkelen was tight-lipped on the ongoing federal investigation. Fromm's failure to comply with the federal order to turn over her records from Jan. 1, 1999, to the present has hampered their look into whether Fromm paid to obtain public contracts, he said.

"A contractor should not have to pay to get contracts. We are investigating whether or not that occurs. That's why we call it pay to play," he said.

03202006 - News Article - Nancy Fromm indicted - ROBERT CANTRELL

Nancy Fromm indicted
NWI Times
Mar 20, 2006
nwitimes.com/sports/nancy-fromm-indicted/article_57dd09ba-b7b5-592a-87cd-9169bcf28ef0.html
The woman behind Addiction and Family Care -- an alcohol and drug counseling service used by local courts -- has been indicted on a charge of obstruction of justice, the U.S. Attorney's office announced this morning.

Nancy Fromm, 55, of Hammond, allegedly failed to turn over her income tax documents to federal authorities, the charge said.

The Times reported recently that federal authorities were reviewing allegations made by a local judge concerning Addiction and Family Care, and State Examiner Bruce Hartman said the State Board of Accounts may perform an audit focusing on the counseling services.

Also indicted in an unrelated case were seven people connected with four local spas that were allegedly serving as fronts for prostitution. Charged with managing the spas were Kum Cha Meyer, 57, of Des Plaines, Ill.; Jennifer Meyer, 22, of Chicago; Bok Ja Young, 46, of Elk Grove Village, Ill.; Niculae Tudor, 49, of Gurnee; Ok Sun Mun, 57, of North Wales, Pa.; Sun Cha Thompson, of Schererville; and James C. Choi, of Chicago.

03172006 - News Article - Riga seeks delay in corruption trial - GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION: Prosecution: Case must move ahead - ROBERT CANTRELL

Riga seeks delay in corruption trial
GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION: Prosecution: Case must move ahead
NWI Times
Mar 17, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/riga-seeks-delay-in-corruption-trial/article_6d304f50-82c6-5f8d-9189-69aa1e288343.html
HAMMOND | A former Schererville judge facing public corruption charges is hoping to delay her trial, set to begin April 3, because her daughter is ill.

But the U.S. attorney's office wants the trial to start on schedule because an FBI agent who would be a star witness might be sent to Iraq with the U.S. Army.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip P. Simon will review medical documents provided by Deborah Riga regarding her daughter's condition before deciding if a new trial date is needed.

Riga is pleading not guilty to charges she shook down more than 1,175 minor offenders who appeared before her, ordering them to undergo counseling at a service she owned in the name of a family friend.

Federal prosecutors say they will prove Riga pocketed more than $30,000 in fees the offenders were required to pay for the services.

Riga, who is free on bond and living in Sarasota, Fla., already has received two previous trial delays since her Aug. 5, 2004, indictment. Her defense team needed more time to study thousands of documents the government might use against Riga.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw has argued that delaying the trial would be a hardship on the prosecution because two FBI agents who are crucial to proving the case would be unavailable.

He said FBI Special Agent Julie Neiger is being reassigned from here to Washington D.C. next month, and FBI Special Agent Meagan Sands must report for duty as a member of the U.S. Army's Individual Ready Reserve being deployed to Iraq.

Sands initially was scheduled to leave last month, but participated in Wednesday's court hearing. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney said it is unclear when the deployment might take place.

Szewciw said in January that Sands had asked the military for an exemption, but there had been no response at that time.

Riga faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each of seven fraud counts and 20 years in prison on a racketeering count. The government also seeks forfeiture of all money illegally diverted.

Voters elected her judge in 1999 to preside over one of the county's busiest municipal courts.

A 20-page indictment alleges Riga extorted money from a legitimate 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.

Schererville lawyer Kenneth Anderson replaced her after Riga's re-election was nullified following a challenge that revealed vote fraud.

03132006 - News Article - EDITORIALS: Villalpando's allegations must be properly investigated - ROBERT CANTRELL

EDITORIALS: Villalpando's allegations must be properly investigated
NWI Times
Mar 13, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/villalpando-s-allegations-must-be-properly-investigated/article_69ea58b0-9fe5-5a2e-b375-2ae17ed4feda.html
The issue: Ethics in government - Our opinion: Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando's complaints about the Cantrell family's interconnections need to be taken seriously by the Indiana Commission

Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando believes his real opponent is neither judicial candidates Eduardo Fontanez nor Stanley Jablonski but political powerbroker Robert Cantrell.

Villalpando says he believes Cantrell persuaded both Fontanez and Jablonski to run against him in the Democratic primary.

Fontanez, a Hammond lawyer, is a former legal intern for Judge Cantrell. Jablonski, a Merrillville lawyer, is chief public defender in Judge Julie Cantrell's court. The judge is Robert Cantrell's daughter.

That, however, is the least of Villalpando's accusations about the Cantrells.

Villalpando said he has repeatedly complained about that family's dealing with the courts to the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications.

As the Rev. John Coughlin points out, "Judges are held to a higher standard of ethical conduct than lawyers or ordinary people."

Coughlin is well qualified to offer that observation. He's a legal ethics professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Judges need to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, he said.

By that standard, some of the actions by Judge Cantrell certainly appear to be unethical.

Why would she refer defendants to a treatment program in which her father has had a financial interest?

That program, the Hammond-based Addiction and Family Care Clinic, is run by Nancy Fromm, who helped run Judge Cantrell's political campaign.

Fromm's qualifications for running the clinic are beside the point. Her connections to the judge and her father are exactly the point.

Villalpando said Robert Cantrell got Fontanez and Jablonski to run against Villalpando after the judge refused to increase the number of referrals to Fromm's counseling service.

State Examiner Bruce Hartman said that because of Villalpando's accusations, the State Board of Accounts might conduct an audit focusing on Cantrell's mandate of services performed by Fromm's clinic.

And why would Judge Cantrell allow her brother to practice law in her courtroom? He has since stopped that practice, but it never should have been allowed in the first place.

There's nothing like a good court fight to stir the blood -- especially when the fight is about how the courts are administered.

The people of Lake County should demand that their courts be administered fairly. Politics should not taint the administration of justice.

The Commission on Judicial Qualification, the State Board of Accounts and U.S. Attorney Joe Van Bokkelen should take Villalpando's complaints about the Cantrells seriously.

03122006 - News Article - Dealing justice? Politics: Villalpando, Cantrells wage war -- unethical public conduct, political cronyism, electioneering at issue - ROBERT CANTRELL

Dealing justice?
Politics: Villalpando, Cantrells wage war -- unethical public conduct, political cronyism, electioneering at issue
NWI Times
Mar 12, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/dealing-justice/article_3a2b8ce0-ca35-5f9a-838a-4df48257a191.html
It's a laundry list one Lake Superior Court judge believes taints the local judiciary and a legal ethics expert says casts a shadow over the court's ability to appear beyond reproach.

The issues in question:
* Judge Julie Cantrell mandating hundreds of criminal defendants pay for drug and alcohol counseling at a Hammond-based counseling service owned by one of the judge's most active campaign workers. It also is a business in which her father, Lake County political operative Robert Cantrell, has had financial interests.

* Robert Cantrell insisting, according to Lake Superior Judge Jesse Villalpando, that Villalpando increase referrals to the same counseling service. Villalpando claims when he refused to do so, Robert Cantrell recruited two lawyers to run against Villalpando on the May primary ballot.

* Julie Cantrell's brother, attorney John Cantrell, being allowed to practice law in the courtroom controlled by his sister.

Villalpando is calling on the public to stop what he calls attacks on the integrity of his court by the Cantrell family, known as one of the most formidable in Lake County politics.

Villalpando, who faces voters May 2 for the first time in his judicial career, has released hundreds of his private memoranda and letters to Indiana judicial officials and the state police. He has also released court documents to demonstrate what he calls "the Cantrell political syndicate's insidious efforts to compromise and contaminate my court."

Those documents, contained in a 1,000-page binder, are what Villalpando believes should spark an investigation into the practices of Judge Cantrell, her father and her brother.

The pages are laced with allegations involving Cantrell, her brother, John, a politically connected Hammond lawyer, and their father, Robert Cantrell, who has been a kingpin in both Republican and Democratic politics.

Villalpando said he has asked the Indiana Judicial Qualifications Commission, an enforcement arm of the Indiana Supreme Court, as well as state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate.

The Cantrells say some of the allegations are lies and others overblown.

"He is one of the biggest liars I've ever dealt with," Robert Cantrell said.

Judge Cantrell said this week she is considering a lawsuit against Villalpando based on his allegations.

John Cantrell said at least one of the allegations -- that he argued cases in his sister's courtroom -- no longer has any basis since he has discontinued the practice.

Taking notice
But the Rev. John Coughlin, a legal ethics professor at University of Notre Dame Law School, said while some of the described actions of Judge Cantrell may not rise to the criminal level, they raise a pattern of ethical questions that could be damaging to the image of the court.

And at least some law enforcement agencies are taking notice of Villalpando's claims.

Sources close to the U.S. Attorney's office in Hammond said federal authorities are reviewing allegations concerning Addiction and Family Care, or AFC, operated by Cantrell political supporter Nancy Fromm.

State Examiner Bruce Hartman said the State Board of Accounts may perform an audit focusing on the counseling services mandated by Judge Cantrell after learning of Villalpando's accusations.

However, Villalpando's efforts to involve Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter met with resistance. Carter, running for re-election in 2006, said in January he reviewed Villalpando's material and didn't find any wrongdoing on Judge Cantrell's part.

As retribution for his going public, Villalpando claims the Cantrells have enlisted two defense lawyers -- Eduardo Fontanez of Hammond and Stanley Jablonski of Merrillville -- to run against him in the spring Democratic primary.

Villalpando writes:
"Robert Cantrell ... has made clear his intention to attempt to gain control of the court through the electoral process because he failed to control it through fraud and extortion."

Villalpando has complained repeatedly about the Cantrells to Judicial Qualifications Commission Counsel Meg Babcock and to David Remondini, chief counsel to the Indiana Supreme Court.

Remondini and Babcock refused comment last week on the bulk of Villalpando's allegations.

But Remondini did say, "We take complaints by judges and about judges very seriously."

Counseling service
Villalpando began complaining about the Cantrells in a December 2001 letter to the director of the Division of State Court Administration.

"(Judge Julie) Cantrell through her father, Dr. Robert Cantrell, has pressured me to hire a relative, business associates and political cronies on our staff. I resisted, but they do not stop exerting pressure," that letter states.

Villalpando said Julie and Robert Cantrell began pressing him in 2003 to send substance abusers appearing in his courtroom to AFC, which provides counseling for people convicted in a number of Lake County courts, including Julie Cantrell's courtroom.

AFC and other counseling services can bill court-mandated customers for hundreds of dollars in services before their criminal charges are resolved.

And in the case of AFC, Fromm said she has paid Robert Cantrell a sort of finder's fee every time he refers business to her company. She denies, however, Villalpando's allegation that she paid Robert Cantrell any money for the cases his daughter referred to Fromm's service.

Still, it is argued the practice amounts to a judge referring defendants to a service in which her father has financial interests -- a practice that Villalpando and other ethics experts believe casts a pall over the ethics of Judge Cantrell's courtroom.

And Fromm's heavy activity as a campaign organizer for Judge Cantrell deepens the ethical quagmire, professor Coughlin said.

"Judges are held to a higher standard of ethical conduct than lawyers or ordinary people," Coughlin said. "If the appearance of impropriety exists, that's thought to make something ethically suspect.

"It sounds like you have something that's ethically suspect here."

Villalpando agrees.

"The reason for Robert Cantrell's use of political intimidation is to gain control of judicial operations for his family's own economic benefit," Villalpando alleged.

Villalpando said he fears proceeds from AFC contracts are being used to finance his political opponents' campaigns.

The Cantrells and Fromm dispute those allegations.

"That is a lie. I don't do that," Robert Cantrell said. "I don't get a penny from that. Believe me, that's been checked over and over again ... by a higher authority. If they had something like that, they would have put me away a long time ago. That's not true."

Judge Cantrell, when asked to comment, made a statement Thursday through her brother, John, saying criminal defendants have a choice to use any of a number of counseling services and that her father doesn't profit from any of it.

Fromm said Villalpando initially refused to send AFC business because "he hated Bobby Cantrell."

She said Joe De La Cruz, a former East Chicago city councilman now serving time behind bars in a federal corruption case, set up a luncheon to resolve the dispute.

"They had a heated disagreement and kind of worked it out," Fromm said. "There was no demand."

Fromm said she pays Robert Cantrell consultant fees for finding new business for her.

"He has never gotten any money from his daughter's court. He wouldn't do that. Julie wouldn't let him do that. That would be just totally crazy," Fromm said.

Fromm's AFC was the subject of an earlier controversy.

She previously received public funds under a contract with the North Township trustee's office, where Robert Cantrell works as a supervisor.

Her service used to provide township employee lectures about diversity in the workplace. Employees claimed the AFC sessions also involved pointless games, mood music and massages intended to make them sensitive, caring public servants.

That ended late last year after Gregory Cvitkovitch stepped down as township trustee following his conviction on federal tax fraud charges. Newly elected North Township Trustee Frank Mrvan cancelled the service.

Family court
Villalpando went on the offensive last year, accusing Judge Cantrell and her brother John of violating a judicial canon forbidding a judge from presiding over a case involving a "spouse, a person within the third degree of relationship (or their spouse) or a person living in the judge's household."

Villalpando said he found hundreds of court records, "docket entries showing John Cantrell representing clients in his sister's court." However, Villalpando said state officials eventually let the Cantrells off the hook and won't penalize them, to his disappointment.

John Cantrell, speaking for himself and sister, said, "When I got out of law school, one of the things we did is ask the people in Indianapolis how we handle this situation, and we were told I can practice in her court as long as it's not in front of her."

Judge Cantrell, declined a full interview with The Times.

John Cantrell said he always argued his cases on his sister's court with an assistant judicial officer -- or magistrate.

Babcock, who counsels state judges on ethical questions, agreed the Cantrells weren't in violation of state ethics rules.

"In 2001... Judge Cantrell asked me if her brother, John, could practice in her court. I said he could practice in front of her judicial officers but not in front of her. Judge Cantrell relied on that advice.

"When it was brought to my attention some months ago that this advice had been given, I retracted it. I talk to about 600 judges a year by telephone, and once in a while it backfires. And this time it did. I just didn't give her a very good answer. I exercised my option to change my mind and (John Cantrell) is no longer practicing there at all," Babcock said.

The problem is, John Cantrell never should have been practicing in his sister's courtroom to begin with, legal ethics professor Coughlin says.

"It's extremely clear she should not have been involved in those cases," Coughlin said, noting that even magistrates or judicial officers still work directly for Judge Cantrell.

"I'm not suggesting there was actually any wrongdoing, but again, even the appearance of impropriety makes it ethically suspect," Coughlin said.

John Cantrell said all pending cases of his and his former law partner, (now Hammond Mayor) Thomas McDermott Jr., have been transferred out of Julie Cantrell's court to a different judge.

Villalpando also alleges Judge Cantrell has steered business to her brother and cites two cases in which indigent defendants, who had been charged in her court, later hired John Cantrell as their defense lawyer.

Those cases also have been transferred out of Judge Cantrell's court. John Cantrell denies his sister steered the clients his way.

"I don't need my sister to steer business my way," John Cantrell said. "I can't help it if somebody walks into my office and they have a case in my sister's court."

Robert and John Cantrell said Villalpando has made other inaccurate allegations against them and Judge Cantrell.

"(Villalpando) is a judge," John Cantrell said. "Shouldn't he research what he says before he makes these kinds of comments?"

03122006 - News Article - Villalpando: Campaign opponents planted by Cantrell - ROBERT CANTRELL

Villalpando: Campaign opponents planted by Cantrell
NWI Times
Mar 12, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/villalpando-campaign-opponents-planted-by-cantrell/article_91917fdd-a7bd-58d4-a7d8-5b1574f186ee.html
CROWN POINT | Lake Superior Judge Jesse Villalpando is campaigning against the Cantrells, but that family isn't on the May 2 Democratic primary ballot.

Hammond lawyer Eduardo Fontanez and Merrillville lawyer Stanley Jablonski demand Villalpando confront them as his true opponents.

Villalpando refuses, claiming the two men are hand puppets of Robert Cantrell, an East Chicago political operative. He claims Robert Cantrell put the two men in the race against him this spring to punish him for refusing to bow to the "Cantrell syndicate," as Villalpando calls it.

Villalpando said Fontanez and Jablonski are challenging his election in part because he refuses to refer more criminal defendants with substance abuse problems to Addiction and Family Care, a Hammond-based counseling service for which Robert Cantrell is paid as a consultant.

Villalpando alleges in a memo he recently made public that he lunched with Robert Cantrell at East Chicago restaurant, Casa Blanca, to discuss the matter, but their discussion went sour.

At that point, according to Villalpando, "Cantrell stated, 'See (Eddie Fontanez) at the next table. He's going to do exactly what I tell him. If I put him in as a candidate against you, he can't beat you, but every vote he gets is one you would have gotten.'

"I didn't pay Cantrell's ransom demands and that is why Eddie Fontanez is a candidate against me," Villalpando said.

Robert Cantrell said last week, "Casa Blanca meeting? That is the biggest lie."

Fontanez also denies it.

Villalpando claims Jablonski is running because he receives an annual salary of $21,600 as chief public defender for Robert Cantrell's daughter, Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell.

Jablonski said the Cantrells don't own him.

"That is absolutely not true," Jablonski said. "Anybody who knows my personality knows I'm my own man. I would not refuse help from anyone because I'm fighting an incumbent, but nobody put me in the race."

Fontanez said Villalpando dismisses him and flings mud because "he's becoming nervous about losing his job. He thinks this court is some kind of birthright.

"He was a state representative and wrote this law (creating his court), and now he is making all these unfounded accusations to distract voters," Fontanez said.

Villalpando said he believes has done a good job as a judge. He admits court operations began slow because of time needed time to get the court up and running. He noted the courtroom was not built until several months after he took office.

Villalpando also said Cantrell candidates in the past have used court backlogs to attack opponents. Now, he said, they are attacking him for not having a backlog.

But Fontanez doesn't buy that explanation.

"The other County Division judges have done about 120,000 or 130,000 cases in the last five years," Fontanez said. "He's done only 40,000 cases. This is a retirement job for him. He's not demanding cases be sent over to his court because he wants to relax."