04242007 - News Article - Mystery candidate in E.C. never returns phone calls - Who is Willie McClain? She, Cantrell won't say - ROBERT CANTRELL

Mystery candidate in E.C. never returns phone calls
Who is Willie McClain? She, Cantrell won't say
NWI Times
Apr 24, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/mystery-candidate-in-e-c-never-returns-phone-calls/article_6b85f85b-9adc-54b1-9386-bef4f9c11abd.html
EAST CHICAGO | If mayoral candidate Willie McClain has any thoughts about the major issues facing the city in the next four years, she is keeping them to herself.

McClain has made no comments about the race publicly and has not returned any phone calls placed by The Times.

What would motivate someone to file for office but then not campaign? She's not saying, and neither is Robert Cantrell.

One of McClain's co-workers at the East Chicago School City's vehicle maintenance center said he and several other people witnessed Cantrell, a longtime Lake County political operative, pick up McClain in his car about 9 a.m. Feb. 18 at the center and drop her off again three hours later. Two days later, while reading a news article, the employee said he learned McClain had filed for the mayoral race.

Another candidate in the East Chicago mayoral race, Alicia Lopez Rodriguez, accuses Cantrell and McClain of putting McClain in the race to detract from the real issues and dilute the vote. 

Interviewed at the federal courthouse in Hammond after his indictment on fraud and tax evasion charges last month, Cantrell declined to comment on McClain. Cantrell could not be reached by phone Monday for comment.

What's known is that McClain is 58 years old, a Democrat, and is no stranger to the election process. In addition to her mayoral run, she has run for Lake County coroner in 2004 and Lake County clerk in 2006, losing both times.

It's not clear if she has any campaign supporters because she did not report raising any money for this year's race when the deadline for filing campaign finance reports came Friday.

Three of McClain's opponents declined to comment on her candidacy, but challenger Lopez Rodriguez minced no words, saying McClain's stunt insults the American soldiers who are fighting overseas to spread the democratic rights that are being abused here.

"I just have issues with people who put their name in for office when they have no intention to win," Rodriguez said. "You have people who have so little respect for our election process that they throw their names in just so they can change the vote."

04052007 - News Article - Cantrell family activities described in charges - Sources say children of Cantrell received illegal health insurance - ROBERT CANTRELL

Cantrell family activities described in charges
Sources say children of Cantrell received illegal health insurance
NWI Times
Apr 5, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-family-activities-described-in-charges/article_c5e11e81-8c0f-5731-97f1-c7a7904ca356.html
HAMMOND | Political insider Robert Cantrell committed insurance fraud by getting health coverage for two of his adult children through a friend's counseling firm, sources say.

Two people with knowledge of last month's federal indictment of Cantrell told The Times that John Cantrell and Jennifer Cantrell are the anonymous insurance recipients referred to as "Person A" and "Person B" in the criminal charges.

Robert Cantrell is charged with 11 fraud and tax evasion crimes, but John and Jennifer Cantrell are not charged or even called "co-conspirators" in the indictment.

The indictment says Robert Cantrell convinced his friend, Nancy Fromm, to place John and Jennifer Cantrell on the health insurance plan of Fromm's company even though none of the Cantrells was an official employee of the company.

Fromm and the Cantrells declined to comment on the revelation.

After at least three years of investigations, a federal grand jury last month charged longtime East Chicago political operative Robert Cantrell with receiving secret payments from Fromm's firm, Addiction and Family Care.

Some of the illegal payments came in cash, such as the money Cantrell received from Fromm in return for getting her firm a contract with Cantrell's public employer, the North Township Trustee's Office, the indictment says.

Cantrell also diverted money by getting Fromm to tell her insurance carriers that John and Jennifer Cantrell were her full-time employees when they were not, sources confirmed.

The insurance arrangement lasted from June 1999 to July 2004, the indictment says, during which time Fromm paid group health insurance premiums so two insurance companies -- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Alden Life Insurance Co. -- covered John and Jennifer Cantrell.

Taken together, the fraudulent insurance coverage and Robert Cantrell's under-the-table payments from Fromm totaled about $150,000, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the identities of Person A and Person B, except to say they were not named because they were not charged with crimes.

Robert Cantrell's attorney, Kevin Milner, has said the allegations in the lawsuit are false and he intends to fight the charges in court. Cantrell officially pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Milner specifically declined to comment on the news that two members of Robert Cantrell's family allegedly benefitted from the activities described in the indictment. In general, Milner said the indictment has taken a toll on the Cantrell family.

"I think they have reacted the way anybody would to false allegations," Milner said. "This is a man who is loved and respected by many. Of course (his family members) are hurt and disillusioned that the government would do this."

04042007 - News Article - Cantrell pleads not guilty - Political insider's lawyer says he's 'anxious to get to trial and clear his name - ROBERT CANTRELL

Cantrell pleads not guilty 
Political insider's lawyer says he's 'anxious to get to trial and clear his name
Post-Tribune (IN)
April 4, 2007
Political insider Robert Cantrell entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday to fraud and tax evasion charges.

Cantrell was on vacation in Italy when a federal grand jury returned an 11-count indictment two weeks ago, and though he appeared in court last week, he did not enter a plea because his attorney, Kevin Milner, was out of town.

Milner insisted there was nothing improper about Cantrell's dealings with Addiction and Family Care, a company owned by his friend, Nancy Fromm, which prosecutors say paid him as much as half the fees collected from contracts won from political figures connected to Cantrell.

"Whatever contact there was between them was completely above-board, at least on Bobby Cantrell's side," Milner said.

Prosecutors allege Cantrell violated state law by not disclosing his financial stake in a contract between the North Township Trustee's Office, where Cantrell was employed, and AFC and did not pay taxes on more than $150,000 he made from the deal from 2000 to 2003.

A week before Cantrell's indictment, Fromm entered a guilty plea to charges of tax fraud and obstruction of justice. Her plea agreement stipulates she will cooperate with federal investigators.

Cantrell, who has had to surrender his passport and is free on a $20,000 unsecured bond, is set to go to trial in front of U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano on June 4.

"(Cantrell) is very anxious to get to trial and clear his name of all this," Milner said.

Caption: Robert Cantrell arrives at the Federal Courthouse in Hammond during a Tuesday morning thunderstorm. Cantrell made his initial court appearance after being indicted on several charges of corruption.(PHOTO) (STEPHANIE DOWELL/POST-TRIBUNE)

04042007 - News Article - Cantrell, Smith, Harris, Powell all plead not guilty in separate cases - ROBERT CANTRELL

Cantrell, Smith, Harris, Powell all plead not guilty in separate cases
NWI Times
Apr 4, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-smith-harris-powell-all-plead-not-guilty-in-separate/article_b950a82e-0ca7-5ae2-b38f-95aac3c17897.html
HAMMOND | Whatever else they might have in common, four Lake County political insiders together pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court.

Criminal charges summoned power broker Robert Cantrell to federal court just hours before Lake County Councilman Will Smith and Gary insiders Willie Harris and Roosevelt Powell appeared in a different criminal proceeding just down the hall.

All four pleaded not guilty to charges they abused the public trust to secretly enrich themselves through two separate schemes outlined in federal indictments last month.

Smith, Harris and Powell face several fraud and tax charges each for profiting from the sale of two buildings to the Gary Urban Enterprise Association, a publicly funded development corporation that dissolved this year under the weight of scandal.

New allegations were added to the original indictments returned last year against the three, and they had to enter new pleas Tuesday.

The newly worded indictment says Powell used his connection with former GUEA director Jojuana Meeks, who has pleaded guilty to embezzlement, to engineer one of the deals.

None of their attorneys commented on the case after the five-minute arraignment Tuesday. Their joint trial is scheduled for July.

Meanwhile, Cantrell faces allegations he convinced his former employer, the North Township trustee's office, to hire a counseling firm owned by a political ally who paid him a percentage of the profits on the side.

The ally was Nancy Fromm, who has pleaded guilty to evading taxes and obstructing the investigation into her Hammond counseling firm, Addiction and Family Care.

Prosecutors also say Cantrell convinced Fromm to place two people on her company's health insurance plan. Prosecutors allege this is insurance fraud because the two did not work for the company.

The 11-count indictment says Cantrell's actions diverted a total of $150,000, both in his secret profits and through the fraudulent health insurance payments. His trial is scheduled for June.

Cantrell's attorney, Kevin Milner, defended his client's innocence after Tuesday's arraignment.

"I am still just very, very surprised, if not shocked, that the government is interested in pursuing a man like Bob Cantrell based on next-to-no evidence," Milner said. "I don't anticipate one person taking the stand and saying one bad thing about Bob Cantrell, if they take that oath and follow it."

04032007 - News Article - Cantrell pleads not guilty - ROBERT CANTRELL

Cantrell pleads not guilty
NWI Times
Apr 3, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-pleads-not-guilty/article_fe60e900-1e00-5d22-ac93-78b28b586d8c.html
HAMMOND | East Chicago political insider Robert Cantrell pleaded not guilty this morning to 11 federal counts of fraud and tax evasion.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry scheduled a June 4 trial on allegations Cantrell used his former job with the North Township Trustee's office to influence that public office to hire a counseling service owned by Cantrell's friend. The government alleges he secretly profited from that business relationship and hid some of his income from the IRS.

Cantrell's defense lawyer, Kevin Milner, said afterwards, "I don't anticipate one person taking the stand and saying one bad thing about Bob Cantrell if they take that oath and follow it.

04012007 - News Article - Political insider Cantrell faces imposing charges - But honest services counts might be easiest ones to dodge - ROBERT CANTRELL

Political insider Cantrell faces imposing charges 
But honest services counts might be easiest ones to dodge
Post-Tribune (IN)
April 1, 2007
Rivals of Lake County political insider Robert J. Cantrell have long compared him to the most wiley and corrupt political players in the country.

And Cantrell can now be lumped in with a slate of unlucky political heavyweights: Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff; former Illinois Gov. George Ryan; Chicago patronage boss Robert Sorich; or, closer to home, the members of East Chicago's Sidewalk Six.

Like Cantrell, all were charged with, among other things, the controversial crime of honest services fraud.

The notion that Lake County residents expect a square deal from their elected officials might seem questionable, even to Northwest Indiana voters who have for generations seen scoundrel upon scoundrel marched from public office to federal prison.

Defense attorneys in the Ryan, Sorich and Abramoff cases all have complained that the federal statute, which has been revised several times after successful Supreme Court challenges, is too broad.

It also has been highly successful: Ryan was convicted and Abramoff pleaded guilty. The Sidewalk Six defendants beat the honest services counts, but were convicted on other charges.

A section of the federal fraud statute says that citizens have a right to the intangible honest labor on their behalf by public officials. Those officials can break that public trust -- and face criminal charges -- even if they don't accept a bribe or steal property, or cause any tangible loss, complains DePaul University law professor Andrea Lyon.

"The statute is so amorphous that anything can be fraud. Taking a bribe, that's pretty clear. Not showing up for work, also," she said.

"(Honest services) basically allows a conviction for a crime conceivably based solely on the jury's distaste for the political process."

So Cantrell, who also has been charged with counts of insurance fraud and tax evasion, finds himself facing an imposing set of charges if he heads to trial. But the honest services counts might be the easiest ones to dodge.

The case against Cantrell
For the most part, the case against Cantrell could be easy enough to prove.

Prosecutors allege Cantrell never filed paperwork with the state disclosing his financial stake in Fromm's Addiction and Family Care, which from 2001 to 2004 paid him more than $270,000 in cash and free health insurance for two unnamed associates in exchange for help getting contracts with North Township, local courts and municipalities.

The indictment also charges Cantrell did not claim more than $150,000 of that income, and that he broke federal mail fraud laws when he received checks from AFC through the mail and committed wire fraud when he deposited the allegedly ill-gotten gains into his account.

Financial and insurance records from Fromm that are already under subpoena should show what Cantrell was paid, and Fromm has entered a guilty plea and has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators -- and possibly testify to any off-the-books payments.

Likewise, the mail and wire fraud counts are typically easy to show using bank statements, and the insurance fraud charges can be corroborated with documents from Fromm and her insurance company. The bank records and checks should show what Cantrell earned, versus what he put down on his tax forms.

In fact, the insurance and tax counts can easily stand on their own. The rest of the prosecution's case hinges on proving honest services fraud, and that is not open and shut, said Valparaiso University Law School professor David Vandercoy.

"Whether he committed honest services fraud, that he had a position that gave him a financial obligation to the citizens, is certainly an arguable point," Vandercoy said, noting that Cantrell held three job titles during his four years at North Township.

If he was a low-level employee, particularly one who had no responsibilities related to counseling services or awarding contracts, Cantrell might not have been required to file the conflict of interest paperwork.

"If he was at such a low level, he may have done something wrong," Vandercoy said. "But it might not be something that comes under the federal honest services law."

If there was no honest services fraud, Cantrell's alleged "scheme" to make money from AFC becomes just doing business, and his paychecks from AFC could be mailed and cashed without committing fraud, either.

Of course, Cantrell's boss, former trustee Greg Cvitkovich, has already pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and is serving a federal prison term and could testify for prosecutors about Cantrell's role in choosing AFC for township work.

Perhaps worse still, township employees can testify to the type of counseling they received from AFC, which included leaving work to get massages. That's evidence prosecutors likely wouldn't have been able to introduce as easily if Cantrell had only been charged with tax evasion and insurance fraud, and evidence that also won't sit well with jurors seated in uncomfortable courtroom chairs for long hours, Vandercoy notes.

"(Honest services charges) are a tactical decision as well," he said. "It let's you put in evidence that a public official, a public employee, is defrauding the public, and that's never going to go over well."