Soderquists' spending analyzed in court
NWI Times
September 08, 2015 - 11:00 PM
HAMMOND | Prosecutors in the trial of Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist and his wife, Deborah, attempted Tuesday to use cellphone records to trace their movements between Lake Station and New Buffalo, Mich., the home of the Four Winds Casino.
As the trial entered its second week Tuesday, defense attorney Scott King reminded jurors the gambling is not a crime.
"Are my clients charged with gambling?" King asked IRS Special Agent Steve Martinez.
"No," replied Martinez.
The two are charged with improperly using money from Soderquist's campaign fund and the Lake Station's Food Pantry account to help fund some of their numerous gambling trips -- mainly to the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich.
Under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson, FBI agent Nathan Holbrook went over records showing times that cellphones belonging to the pair were used in the area of Lake Station, New Buffalo, Mich., and some other locations. The records were used in an attempt to show the correlation between when the phones were in use and when ATM withdrawals were taken from the campaign fund or the food pantry fund and when the Soderquists' players club cards were used at the Four Winds Casino.
For example, on Sept. 18, 2012, Holbrook went over records showing a call from Keith Soderquist's phone went through the cell tower in Lake Station at 6:34 p.m. About four minutes later, bank records showed a $300 ATM withdrawal was made in Lake Station from Soderquist's campaign account. At 9:24 p.m. that day, a call to Keith Soderquist's phone went through the New Buffalo cell tower, which was between the first time and last time that players club cards belonging to the Soderquists were used at the casino that night, according to casino records.
The Soderquists face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, and three counts of filing false income tax returns.
Martinez last week and again Tuesday testified about banking and casino records that showed on numerous occasions the Soderquists made ATM withdrawals from the campaign fund or food pantry fund within 24 hours of their players club cards being used at the casino.
On Tuesday, King pointed out the Soderquists each had more than one players club card and Martinez agreed there were a fair amount of cards issued to them. One casino executive has acknowledged that other people could use the Soderquist's cards when gambling.
In earlier testimony, James Busch, who oversaw the city's composting operation for a number of years, recalled that Keith Soderquist at one time told him that one of Deborah Soderquist's brothers had added $10,000 on his players club card by using it at the gaming tables. Martinez, however, noted there was no record of $10,000 being lost on the table games by the Soderquists.
Casino records also showed only about $100 of the losses recorded for the couple came from the table games. Almost all of the nearly $140,000 allegedly lost by the couple between 2009 and 2012 was the result of slot machine play, according to those records.
Officials do not have video of the two being at the casino during that period. Martinez, however, said in a number of cases when the couple were said to have been at the casino after taking money from the campaign fund or food pantry fund, one or both of them displayed their photo identification to get into the casino's Copper Lounge.
Martinez also said if the couple had used money from the campaign fund or food pantry fund for personal uses such as gambling it should have been recorded as other income on their income tax forms.
Under questioning from King, Martinez acknowledged if the money taken from the funds was for legitimate reimbursements it didn't have to be treated as income. Since the charges were filed, the defense has provided some receipts for political expenditures that were apparently not originally on the Soderquist's campaign reports. Martinez, however, said even allowing for those receipts there is more than $16,000 in money taken from the campaign fund that is unaccounted for in the records.
Holbrook on Tuesday also testified about Chase Bank account records regarding a City of Lake Station Flood Victims account opened in Sept. 17, 2008, following a flood that hit the area.
Holbrook said the fund accumulated more than $2,200 in deposits, but the only withdrawal occurred when the money was transferred into the Lake Station Food Pantry account on March 29, 2010. He also spoke about how the city donated several thousand dollars to the account.
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