05182013 - News Article - Lake Surveyor Van Til, Crown Point businessman indicted

Lake Surveyor Van Til, Crown Point businessman indicted

Post-Tribune (IN)
Saturday, May 18, 2013 

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Firearms case 

The second case announced Friday continues an indictment against three former officers of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department who all pleaded guilty to using their position with the department to illegally buy and sell gun parts. 

Only the military and law enforcement agencies can buy fully automated machine guns and laser sites for guns. Joseph Kumstar, who was then deputy chief, and Ronald Slusser, a member of the SWAT team, used their positions to buy 71 guns and 74 laser sites and intercept them before they were delivered to the sheriff’s department. 

The new indictment claims the men worked with Vahan Kelerchian, 53, of Richboro, Pa., in the scheme from 2008 to 2010. Kelerchian owns Armament Services International, a Philadelphia company that sells firearms mostly online and used his position to help convince the manufacturers that they were legally selling the guns and laser sites to the sheriff’s department, according to the indictment. 

The men would buy the guns for $1,200 to $1,600 and the sites for about $1,200. Because private citizens cannot buy these products, the defendants could sell the sites for $2,800 to $3,000. They would take the guns apart and sell the upper barrels, which are considered state of the art and can fit on most any gun, for $2,500 to $3,000. 

Police in Montreal, Canada, found some of the barrels when they served a search warrant against a gang. Other barrels were sold to someone identified only as Person A in Utah. The indictment does not say what happened to the barrels. 

The men used not only letterhead from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, according to the indictment, but they also at times pretended to be acting on behalf of the Lowell Police Department. 

Investigators found one of the sites being sold online by a Mississippi man, Keith Mitts. He later got into a shootout with police in Mississippi, and police discovered more of the laser sites. 

Kelerchian faces one count of conspiring to provide false information to a federally licensed firearm dealer, one count of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which oversees laser sites, one count of conspiracy to make false statements and four counts of making false statements. 

He is also charged with bribing Kumstar by giving him a Remington .12 gauge shotgun in July 2008 and conspiring to launder money. 

Capp said Friday that officials from his office are also working to have Kelerchian turn himself in sometime next week for an initial appearance. Capp added that the investigation into this case continues. 

Robin Shoemaker, special agent in charge of the ATF, said the indictment is good news for the citizens of Indiana and shows that the ATF will go after anyone who violates federal gun laws. 

“No one is above the law, whether you’re a police officer or whether you’re a federal firearms licensee,” she said. 

Lying on tax return 

The third case charged Crown Point resident Roman Perez, who has contracted with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department and the Lake County Treasurer’s Office, of lying on his 2007 federal tax return and in a bankruptcy case in Hammond. 

Perez has already signed a plea agreement with federal attorneys, Capp said. 

The indictment claims Perez, 41, cut his income on the tax return by $110,108. Of that, $80,000 came from money he received from the treasurer’s office and the Lake County Sheriff’s Commissary Fund. 

Capp did not say what work Perez provided for the county but said he owns a graphic arts company called Roman Arts Inc. 

Perez continued to lie about $40,000 he was paid from the county in a 2009 Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. 

Perez faces up to three years in prison on the charge of lying on a tax return and up to five years in prison on the lying in a bankruptcy case count. The agreement calls for him to pay $26,417, plus fines and interest, to the IRS. 

Capp said Perez is cooperating with the government in an ongoing investigation . 

James Lee, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation , said his office will continue to go after public officials and people who work with public officials to commit tax crimes. 

“In these cases today, IRS Criminal Investigation did what we do best: We followed the money trail,” Lee said. 

Capp said that he can’t comment on why public officials continue to break the law but promised that his office will continue to investigate and prosecute the cases. 

The indictments come about seven months after the last round of public corruption indictments were announced. East Chicago Councilman Judah Parks, former Gary Common Councilwoman Marilyn Krusas and former Hammond Councilman Al Salinas have all since pleaded guilty to tax crimes. Krusas and Salinas resigned their seats after pleading guilty; both are awaiting sentencing. 

05132013 - News Article - Lake Station court closing helps clerks balance books

Lake Station court closing helps clerks balance books
NWI Times
May 13, 2013
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lake-station/lake-station-court-closing-helps-clerks-balance-books/article_8df17f06-aa39-507e-81dd-2673b6fe9048.html

LAKE STATION | The City Court office is back to business as usual after a one-day closure to the public last Thursday, City Judge Chris Anderson said.

A sign posted in the window of the City Court last week stated, "As of May 7, Lake Station City Court will be closed on Thursdays until further notice."

Anderson said his two clerks used last Thursday to catch up on paperwork and to have time to balance cash books.

The court clerks were able to get enough work done so there shouldn't be an immediate need to close the office this week.

Anderson said he and his staff aren't ruling out the possibility of closing the office to the public at noon on Thursdays because it is one of the slower days.

"We're in the beginning stage of discussion," Anderson said.

City court clerk Kim Frizzell said the office closure was just temporary and allowed her and a second clerk a chance to catch up on paperwork, including some 1,000 bench warrants not taken care of in five years.

"This is just temporary and a chance to straighten out the mess that was here before me," Frizzell said.

Anderson said City Court, which is held every Tuesday and once a month on Friday, has remained unchanged.

Some city officials said they feared revenue being generated by the court had declined and the matter came to a head late last year when the City Council considered abolishing the City Court by Jan. 1, 2014.

The City Council dropped that decision in a move that was applauded by a standing-room-only crowd that came to City Hall to support Anderson.

The council agreed to instead meet with Anderson to work out any issues involving the court.

City officials and Anderson held a two-hour meeting in January but have not met since, Anderson said.

"We've provided the documentation that we're making money. There's nothing else for us to do," Anderson said.

Anderson has maintained that the issues with the court surfaced when on June 7 he fired the mayor's stepdaughter who had been a clerk under his supervision.

Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist has continued to deny that allegation.

05032013 - News Article - McCowan fails in first bid to overturn murder conviction

McCowan fails in first bid to overturn murder conviction

NWI Times
May 03, 2013 - 4:35 pm

VALPARAISO - Dustin McCowan has failed in his first shot at overturning his 60-year sentence and conviction for murdering former girlfriend Amanda Bach.

Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa on Friday tossed out claims that he erred by not stepping aside after learning about a telephone call with McCowan from the jail that included derogatory and threatening remarks about prosecutors, police and their family members.

Public defender Mitch Peters argued 20-year-old McCowan's original defense team did not know about the call until Alexa commented on it during sentencing or it would have asked the judge to recuse himself.

The judge mentioning the call indicated "a personal prejudice and animosity against the defendant," Peters said.

Alexa said in his Friday order that the court is made aware of any potential threats involving staff or participants in order to determine whether there is a risk to personal safety. That is what occurred in this case, and Alexa said he determined there was no threat.

This type of communication is carried out for safety reasons and does not require recusal, he said.

Alexa also said in his order that Peters filed the challenge April 18, before a written transcript was even available of the March 28 sentencing hearing.

According to Friday's order, Alexa had said during the sentencing hearing that McCowan said no when it was suggested during the recorded telephone call that it would be appropriate for prosecutors' children to be killed "so that they would know what this is all about." As a result, Alexa said he did not take the call into consideration when he decided on a sentence.

The call in question was between McCowan and an unnamed person.

Peters has said this failed motion to correct errors was a prerequisite for appeal when addressing newly discovered evidence that could not have been discovered at the time of trial. He reserves the right to take up other issues on direct appeal, but first must review the record considering he did not represent McCowan at the time of trial.

A jury found McCowan guilty in February of shooting his former girlfriend, 19-year-old Bach, of Portage, in the throat during the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2011, after she showed up at the Union Township home he was living in at the time with his father.

Bach's partially clothed body was found the next day, less than 300 yards from the house in a wooded area along County Road 625 West at the Canadian National Railroad tracks.

McCowan, who has maintained his innocence, has been transferred to the Pendleton Correctional Facility to begin serving his time. He is listed on the DOC's online offender search site with a release date of Sept. 17, 2041.