Attorney cries political foul
FEDERAL COURT Fromm released on bond after short time in inmate holding cell
NWI Times
Mar 21, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/local/attorney-cries-political-foul/article_124ea0ce-c7eb-529b-816a-1e88efc89def.html
HAMMOND | A defense lawyer is attacking U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen for filing his latest public corruption charge only six weeks before the May 2 primary election.
"I find both the substance and timing of this indictment to be particularly unsettling," Highland lawyer J. Michael Katz said Tuesday afternoon.
Katz is defending Nancy K. Fromm, 55, owner of Addiction and Family Care, from a charge she is obstructing Van Bokklen's Operation Restore Public Integrity, an attack on public graft.
Fromm is accused of withholding income records of her politically connected counseling service from a grand jury looking into allegations that private businesses pay kickbacks to public officials to get government work contracts.
Fromm isn't accused of paying kickbacks, only withholding information from state and federal investigators.
U.S. marshals briefly locked Fromm behind bars in a federal courthouse holding cell early Tuesday before she could bond out on the obstructing justice charge.
Katz said afterward he believes the indictment and the attention the U.S. attorney has given it with a full blown news conference Monday reveals a political motive.
"I don't recall a previous instance in the past 35 years where the U.S. attorney has used an indictment and press conference to influence the outcome of a local election.
"I only wish I had been invited to participate in the U.S. attorney's press conference. I would have appreciated the opportunity to ask him some questions," Katz said.
Van Bokkelen declined comment on Katz's remarks, according to his spokeswoman Mary L. Hatton.
Fromm and her service has contributed thousands in political donations to a variety of public officials and helped the election campaigns of several local government officials with whom Addiction and Family Care receives business.
Fromm and her business consultant, Robert Cantrell, reportedly are active in a number of contested races for sheriff, County Council and other local offices.
Cantrell openly is seeking the defeat of Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando, who is facing the voters for the first time in his judgeship and two challengers, Stanley Jablonski and Eduardo Fontanez.
Villalpando alleges Fromm and Cantrell have been demanding business referrals from his court and his refusal triggered their opposition to him.
Cantrell, who isn't accused of any wrongdoing, said earlier this month he considers Villalpando a lazy judge who doesn't deserve a new term.
Fromm appeared before Magistrate Paul Cherry to be told she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Katz complained about Fromm being put into a holding cell with other inmates before the hearing began. An unidentified member of the U.S. Marshal's Service, which provides court security, told the court it is routine to hold criminal defendants until they are released on bond.
Cherry said he would make sure she didn't have to go back into the cell before she signed the necessary paperwork to be released on a $20,000 bond without any further restrictions on her freedom.
Fromm is set to return to court April 17 to enter her plea to the charge.
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