12242015 - News Article - Soderquist's stepdaughter asks to travel before trial

Soderquist's stepdaughter asks to travel before trial
Post-Tribune (IN)
December 24, 2015
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.proxy.portagelibrary.info/resources/doc/nb/news/159EE89BA8B81A50?p=AWNB
Former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist's stepdaughter is asking permission to travel to Florida for surgery a little more than a month before their criminal trial.

Thomas Vanes, Miranda Brakley's attorney, says in the request that she does not expect the surgery to interfere with the trial's start date of Feb. 1 and that federal attorneys do not oppose it.

The trial originally was delayed from a start date in November, and the motion notes that a surgery Brakley had Nov. 11 was part of the reason for the delay.

The motion adds that during the first surgery, doctors discovered Brakley would need a second surgery, which will take place in Florida and is set for this week. She is expected to need to stay in the hospital for less than a week.

Brakley is accused of stealing money from the city of Lake Station when she worked there as a court clerk and then lying on her bankruptcy records by not declaring that income.

Soderquist and his wife, Deborah Soderquist, are accused of acting as accessories after the fact and money structuring, which involves trying to avoid legal notices by banks of any financial activity of more than $10,000 by breaking activity into multiple, smaller amounts.

All three have pleaded not guilty. The Soderquists were convicted in a separate case in September of using money from his election fund and the city's food pantry to pay for dozens of gambling trips. They have filed a motion for a new trial in that case.