Soderquist caught listening to calls at City Hall, faces more prison time
NWI Times
Aug 31, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/soderquist-caught-listening-to-calls-at-city-hall-faces-more/article_7e63f04e-f11b-5e78-b3ea-ed4d02cd74de.html
HAMMOND — As federal officials prepared to sentence former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist on corruption charges, they said they discovered he had set up a system of recording and listening to telephone calls at City Hall.
Soderquist had recorded approximately 425,000 calls between Oct. 12, 2011, and Aug. 13, 2015, and continued the activity even after being released on bond as his federal corruption cases were pending, according to a sentencing agreement filed Wednesday in federal court.
Computer records show Soderquist listened to 14 calls involving potential government witnesses working at City Hall and at least one call placed from the private chambers of the Lake Station City Court judge, according to the court document.
Soderquist, who admitted to violating the federal wiretapping statute and doing so while on bond, now faces an enhanced term of 42 months when sentenced Sept. 28, according to the filing by the U.S. attorney’s office. The government, in return, will not file a new criminal case against him.
“The system was not installed for eavesdropping,” Soderquist’s defense attorney Scott King told The Times on Wednesday.
The phone system was installed a few years ago as part of the construction of new city offices, he said. The idea was to improve customer service while protecting city employees against false accusations.
Where Soderquist ran afoul of the law is that not all city employees were notified the calls were being recorded, and there was no message notifying those on the other end of the line, King said.
The sentencing agreement says Soderquist authorized the installation of the system and that it recorded all calls except those in the mayor’s office. In addition to recording calls that were accessible to Soderquist by computer, it allowed him to “surreptitiously eavesdrop on any City Hall call while the call was in progress.”
King said he has seen no evidence to back up government claims that Soderquist continued listening to calls after being released on bond April 17, 2014, in his corruption cases.
Soderquist and his wife, Deborah, were already scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 28 for improperly taking money from his re-election campaign fund and the city’s food pantry account to gamble at casinos.
U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano had postponed the sentencing from July after a joint motion was filed by the Soderquists’ attorneys and the U.S. attorney’s office seeking the delay because “additional investigative matters” had come to light.
Keith Soderquist had been facing up to 30 months behind bars, but the recommendation to the judge now will be 42 months as a result of the violation involving the phone system, according to the sentencing agreement.
The proposed agreement also calls on Soderquist to pay $3,520 to the city of Lake Station and $22,571 to the Internal Revenue Service.
The government agrees not to bring any charges against Deborah Soderquist stemming from the phone system.
NWI Times
Aug 31, 2016
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/soderquist-caught-listening-to-calls-at-city-hall-faces-more/article_7e63f04e-f11b-5e78-b3ea-ed4d02cd74de.html
HAMMOND — As federal officials prepared to sentence former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist on corruption charges, they said they discovered he had set up a system of recording and listening to telephone calls at City Hall.
Soderquist had recorded approximately 425,000 calls between Oct. 12, 2011, and Aug. 13, 2015, and continued the activity even after being released on bond as his federal corruption cases were pending, according to a sentencing agreement filed Wednesday in federal court.
Computer records show Soderquist listened to 14 calls involving potential government witnesses working at City Hall and at least one call placed from the private chambers of the Lake Station City Court judge, according to the court document.
Soderquist, who admitted to violating the federal wiretapping statute and doing so while on bond, now faces an enhanced term of 42 months when sentenced Sept. 28, according to the filing by the U.S. attorney’s office. The government, in return, will not file a new criminal case against him.
“The system was not installed for eavesdropping,” Soderquist’s defense attorney Scott King told The Times on Wednesday.
The phone system was installed a few years ago as part of the construction of new city offices, he said. The idea was to improve customer service while protecting city employees against false accusations.
Where Soderquist ran afoul of the law is that not all city employees were notified the calls were being recorded, and there was no message notifying those on the other end of the line, King said.
The sentencing agreement says Soderquist authorized the installation of the system and that it recorded all calls except those in the mayor’s office. In addition to recording calls that were accessible to Soderquist by computer, it allowed him to “surreptitiously eavesdrop on any City Hall call while the call was in progress.”
King said he has seen no evidence to back up government claims that Soderquist continued listening to calls after being released on bond April 17, 2014, in his corruption cases.
Soderquist and his wife, Deborah, were already scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 28 for improperly taking money from his re-election campaign fund and the city’s food pantry account to gamble at casinos.
U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano had postponed the sentencing from July after a joint motion was filed by the Soderquists’ attorneys and the U.S. attorney’s office seeking the delay because “additional investigative matters” had come to light.
Keith Soderquist had been facing up to 30 months behind bars, but the recommendation to the judge now will be 42 months as a result of the violation involving the phone system, according to the sentencing agreement.
The proposed agreement also calls on Soderquist to pay $3,520 to the city of Lake Station and $22,571 to the Internal Revenue Service.
The government agrees not to bring any charges against Deborah Soderquist stemming from the phone system.
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