Cantrell goes to court
CANTRELL: As promised, Lake County operative returns from European vacation to face charges
NWI Times
Mar 27, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-goes-to-court/article_942b3766-44eb-5b40-821b-69ba6b654a53.html
HAMMOND | Fresh from his Italian vacation, political insider Robert Cantrell appeared in federal court Monday morning to hear prosecutors read the 11 criminal charges against him.
Cantrell was clad all in black as he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry and said in a quiet voice that he had not yet seen a copy of the indictment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Ault handed him one.
After years of federal scrutiny, the political power broker was indicted on charges he did not disclose he was profiting from a counseling contract that he induced his former employer, the North Township trustee's office, to sign.
Prosecutors also allege Cantrell directed the contractor to fraudulently place two non-employees on its health insurance plan and that Cantrell under-reported his own income between 2000 and 2003. Cantrell did not enter a plea Monday but could do so during his arraignment scheduled for April 3.
His attorney, Kevin Milner, has said Cantrell plans to plead not guilty and fight the allegations at trial. Cantrell declined to comment Monday.
"I can't, under advice of my attorney. One of these days I'll say something," Cantrell said after leaving court with his son, attorney John Cantrell. Milner did not attend Monday's hearing.
Federal prosecutors Ault and Orest Szewciw did not request that Cantrell be held in jail during his trial, but they asked him to surrender his passport.
Cantrell, 65, of Schererville, was released on a standard $20,000 unsecured appearance bond, which means he would be liable to pay the amount only if he skipped a court hearing.
He was vacationing in Italy last week when a federal grand jury indicted him on charges he played a role in the alleged fraud schemes.
Cantrell worked for North Township as an inspector and office manager when the township hired a Hammond counseling firm politically aligned with him called Addiction and Family Care.
The contract, which lasted from 2000 to 2005, mandated that township employees attend monthly stress-relief and group counseling sessions with the firm. Former township Manager Louis Karubas said the township had to pay the firm even if the employees did not attend the sessions.
Cantrell was receiving "referral fees" of up to 50 percent of what the township paid to the firm through a then-secret agreement with the owner, Nancy Fromm, the indictment alleges.
Fromm has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and hiding information from a grand jury, but she has defended her firm and the work it did on behalf of the township as legitimate.
No comments:
Post a Comment