Former Schererville judge indicted
Indiana Lawyer (Indianapolis, IN)
August 25, 2004
A former Schererville Town Court judge is facing federal extortion and mail fraud charges accused of illegally profiting from defensive driving courses and counseling services offered through the court.
An eight-count indictment was returned Aug. 5 against Deborah A. Riga, 47, Sarasota, Fla., by a federal grand jury sitting in Hammond.
Riga entered a plea of not guilty during her arraignment Aug. 9 before Magistrate Judge Andrew P. Rodovich. She is free on a $20,000 unsecured bond.
Her attorney, Nick J. Thiros of Merrillville, did not return calls seeking comment on the case.
Riga served as judge of Schererville Town Court from January 2000 to Dec. 31, 2003. Her victory over challenger Kenneth Anderson in the 2003 Democratic primary was overturned in September by a judge who threw out 23 fraudulent absentee votes. She has since moved to Florida.
The 20-page indictment claims Riga pocketed between $30,000 and $70,000 in a scheme that funneled funds from offenders who came before her to businesses she owned. Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of any ill-gotten gains.
In October 2001, Riga established a business entity called Diversified Educational Services to replace Gibraltar Driving School in operating a defensive driving course offered through a Schererville Town Court deferral program, the indictment alleges.
People charged with minor traffic offenses in Schererville could take part in the deferral program, which required them to participate in the defensive driving school. Completion of the deferral program would allow the offenders to avoid conviction and the offense would not appear on their driving record.
Participants had to pay a $25 fee to the driving school in addition to a deferral fee of about $114.
To conceal her ownership of DES, Riga directed fees from participants at the driving school into a bank account in the name of an acquaintance, prosecutors claim.
According to the indictment, Riga increased the fee for the driving school to $30 in January 2002 and began letting DES use her courtroom for free rather than having the town charge rent at a rate of $250 per session as it had in the past.
"Between November 2001 and December 2003, approximately 1,000 individuals attended DES driving school and paid fees totaling approximately $29,600," the indictment states.
The judge hatched a similar scheme with a young offender program offered through the court, the charges allege.
Young adults, generally ages 18 to 22 who were charged in Schererville Town Court for the first time with consumption or possession of alcohol or marijuana, were ordered by Riga to participate in counseling. Upon completion of counseling and after a period of supervision, the charges would be dismissed through the program the judge called Crossroads.
A business known as Addiction and Family Care Inc. provided the counseling for the Crossroads program, until Riga assumed control. Riga instructed the owner of AFC to pay her father, Tony Riga, $500 per counseling session as a consultant, although her father provided no services to AFC or to Crossroads, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say AFC's owner understood this demand to mean that payments had to be made to Tony Riga in order for the company to continue to receive business from the Schererville Town Court.
In January 2002, Riga assumed control of the Crossroads program, but continued to use an AFC employee as counselor of the program who would issue certificates to participants who completed the counseling, which bore the signature of AFC's owner, according to the indictment.
Payments to the Crossroads program were to be given to Riga or placed in the court safe, and she then would deposit those payments into the DES account, the charges claim.
About $14,320 in fees from 175 offenders was placed into the account between January 2002 and December 2003, prosecutors allege.
As with the defensive driving school, rent payments to the city ceased once Riga took over the Crossroads program, according to the indictment.
"Deborah A. Riga abused her position of public trust in a manner that significantly facilitated the commission and concealment of the offenses," the indictment states.
Under IC 35-44-1-3, a public servant cannot knowingly or intentionally have a pecuniary interest in or derive profit from a contract connected with an action by the governmental entity served by the public servant.
Canon 2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct requires judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety, while Canon 4D(1)(a) and (c) provide that a judge shall not engage in business dealings that might be perceived as exploiting the judge's position.
A joint task force consisting of the Indiana Attorney General's Office, the Lake County Prosecutor's Office, the FBI, the Indiana State Police, and the United States Attorney's Office investigated the case.
A status conference in the case is set for Nov. 14 before Judge Rodovich, at which time a trial date will be set.
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