04132006 - News Article - Ex-township trustee nets light sentence - Cvitkovich gets 5 months in prison, fines, home detention for tax fraud

Ex-township trustee nets light sentence 
Cvitkovich gets 5 months in prison, fines, home detention for tax fraud

Post-Tribune (IN)
April 13, 2006

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U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano sentenced former North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich on Wednesday to five months in prison under the minimum sentencing guidelines for his federal corruption conviction. 

Cvitkovich must also pay $22,160 restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and a $2,000 fine, in addition to his prison time followed by five months of home detention and a year of supervised release. 

Before a packed courtroom, Cvitkovich explained how sorry he was for filing hundreds of thousands of dollars in false business deductions in the mid 1990s. 

"I'd like to offer my apology to the poor, to you and to the U.S. judicial system," Cvitkovich said, speaking to Lozano and his room full of supporters. 

While Cvitkovich resigned from his trustee position when he pleaded guilty to the corruption charges in October, Lozano held up a stack of 92 letters from residents and officials who wrote to the court on Cvitkovich's behalf. 

Cvitkovich faced a maximum of three years in prison as a result of the plea agreement, but his cooperation with federal investigators was considered when determining his lighter sentence. 

Cvitkovich's attorney William Padula requested that his client receive a sentencing below the guidelines, but Lozano decided to stick with the minimum amount agreed upon in the plea agreement because of the severity of his crime. 

"What you have done is stupid, there's no doubt about that," Lozano said. 

Cvitkovich was involved in an arrangement during his tenure as trustee where he would accept money in exchange for East Chicago contracts, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Kirsch. Danny McArdle won an exclusive contract with East Chicago and paid Cvitkovich's corporation hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result, Kirsch said. Cvitkovich then paid $135,000 of that money to his friend James Fife, top aide to former Mayor Robert Pastrick , who covered up the illegal contracts. 

The money transfers were disguised as office expenses on corporate income tax filings, according to court documents. Fife was sentenced two weeks ago to 46 months in prison, and he appealed his sentence Tuesday. 

Kirsch told Lozano that while tax fraud is a serious offense, Cvitkovich was still able to perform his duties as trustee while he was in office. 

"Although Mr. Cvitkovich was an elected official at the time of the offense, there is no evidence he abused his office," Kirsch said. 

He is scheduled to start his prison term May 17.