Feds accuse political insider Cantrell of tax evasion, fraud
Post-Tribune (IN)
March 22, 2007
After several years under investigation by federal agents, Lake County political insider Robert Cantrell was charged Wednesday with 11 counts of fraud and tax evasion in connection with his alleged ties to a counseling firm that also has been under federal scrutiny.
A 20-page indictment alleges Cantrell violated state conflict of interest laws by not disclosing that while working for the North Township trustee, he took home a six-figure share of the money paid to Addiction and Family Care, to the township and more than a dozen courts and other government units for counseling services.
"He owed a duty of honest service to the citizens of North Township," said Deputy U.S. Attorney David Capp. "Part of that duty includes no self-dealing on contracts."
Public servants are required to disclose financial interest in companies that do business with their public employers. The indictment also alleges Cantrell did not claim some $150,000 he received from AFC in the form of cash, payroll payments to an unnamed Person A who did not work for the company, and insurance premiums paid for Person A from 2000 to 2004.
During the same period, Cantrell did claim $123,505 in income from AFC.
Cantrell, who retired his township job in October, was on vacation in Italy with his wife, and will report to court Monday. Reached on his cell phone in Italy on Wednesday morning, the normally effusive Cantrell referred comment to his attorney, Kevin Milner.
"We will be there bright and early Monday morning," Milner said. "He is looking forward to coming back."
Cantrell and Addiction and Family Care owner Nancy Fromm have been targeted by U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen's Operation Restore Public Integrity probe of public corruption for years. Fromm, a friend of Cantrell's, last week pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax evasion charges and has agreed to cooperate with investigators.
Milner said there is "nothing new" to the U.S. attorney's allegations, noting that federal agents have been investigating Fromm and his client for at least three years.
"And this was the best they could come up with," Milner said. "This is stuff they have been talking about forever, and it is based entirely on the word of Nancy Fromm, who is cooperating with the government and trying to get herself out of trouble at Bobby Cantrell's expense."
Federal investigators took copies of all Fromm's financial records in 2003 and 2004, as well as bundles of township records from the administration of former trustee Gregory Cvitkovich.
Cvitkovich, who hired Cantrell in 2001 and placed him in a number of jobs with North Township despite allegations that Cantrell spent most of his time doing political work, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2005.
The allegation states Cantrell "helped" Fromm win contracts with the township and as many as 18 local courts and government agencies, including the Lake County Sheriff's Department and the court of his daughter, Lake County Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell.
AFC's contract with the trustee's office, which included providing free massages to on-duty township employees, was canceled by Frank Mrvan Jr., who replaced Cvitkovich as trustee.
The indictment states Fromm paid Cantrell up to 50 percent of the fees AFC received for court referrals, a smaller amount from the fees collected from the township and city of East Chicago, and $2,000 a month for his help winning a contract with the sheriff's work release program.
Cantrell also is charged with insurance fraud for having AFC provide insurance coverage for two people, an unnamed Person A and Person B, representing to the insurance companies that the pair were full-time employees.
Cantrell also allegedly had Fromm make some payments to Person A, apparently to disguise some of his income and avoid paying taxes.
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