11032015 - News Article - Soderquist defends plan to abolish city court

Soderquist defends plan to abolish city court
Post-Tribune (IN)
November 3, 2015
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/158E19C64C327B78?p=AWNB
Attorneys for former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist shot back in a court filing at claims that he tried to shut down the city's court just to hide his stepdaughter's crime, saying it was instead related to problems with the court.

The filing Monday comes a week before Soderquist and his wife, Deborah Soderquist, are set to go on trial on charges of helping the mayor's stepdaughter, Miranda Brakley, hide her theft of money from the city.

Brakley is charged with theft and lying on her bankruptcy filings.

Federal attorneys filed a motion last week asking that they be allowed to present evidence that Soderquist tried to abolish the Lake Station City Court just days after state auditors called him about an issue of missing bond money.

The auditors had pegged the mayor's stepdaughter, Miranda Brakley, who worked as a deputy court clerk, as the party responsible for the missing $16,000, and called the mayor on Dec. 4, 2012, about the issue. The motion says that just two days later, the mayor added a proposed ordinance to abolish the court to the Lake Station City Council's agenda for that evening. The proposal ultimately failed, but federal attorneys argue in their motion that the timing of it shows the mayor wanted to take control of the court's finances to try to hide Brakley's theft.

King argues that federal attorneys are showing only a portion of what really happened, however.

"That timeline is incomplete with significant omissions," King said in his response to the government's motion.

He argues that Soderquist had actually hired a firm in September 2012 to review the court's finances, which reported in November that the court had lost money and that court officials were not collecting all of the fees.

King also cites a newspaper article from Dec. 3 that quotes the city's attorney, Ray Szarmach, discussing plans to shut the court, a day before the state auditor called Soderquist.

A footnote in King's filing reveals that Brakley went to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hammond in June 2012 about the issue of the court not collecting fees. That's the same month that she was fired from the city court.

Another footnote in King's filing says that Soderquist spoke to Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter in July 2012 and accused former City Judge Christopher Anderson of not living in Lake Station, a requirement for elected officials. Both of the claims happened around the time that Soderquist and Anderson began a feud over control of the court. After Anderson fired Brakley, the City Council voted with the support of Soderquist to move control of the clerk deputies from the judge's authority to the city's clerk-treasurer.

The issue went to court in Lake County, where Anderson eventually prevailed.

Anderson never has been charged in regard to either accusation.

A sealed hearing in the case is set for Tuesday morning. A court note on the hearing says it deals with possibly delaying the trial. The hearing was set after King and Brakley's attorney, Thomas Vanes, filed sealed motions.