Cantrell family activities described in charges
Sources say children of Cantrell received illegal health insurance
NWI Times
Apr 5, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/cantrell-family-activities-described-in-charges/article_c5e11e81-8c0f-5731-97f1-c7a7904ca356.html
HAMMOND | Political insider Robert Cantrell committed insurance fraud by getting health coverage for two of his adult children through a friend's counseling firm, sources say.
Two people with knowledge of last month's federal indictment of Cantrell told The Times that John Cantrell and Jennifer Cantrell are the anonymous insurance recipients referred to as "Person A" and "Person B" in the criminal charges.
Robert Cantrell is charged with 11 fraud and tax evasion crimes, but John and Jennifer Cantrell are not charged or even called "co-conspirators" in the indictment.
The indictment says Robert Cantrell convinced his friend, Nancy Fromm, to place John and Jennifer Cantrell on the health insurance plan of Fromm's company even though none of the Cantrells was an official employee of the company.
Fromm and the Cantrells declined to comment on the revelation.
After at least three years of investigations, a federal grand jury last month charged longtime East Chicago political operative Robert Cantrell with receiving secret payments from Fromm's firm, Addiction and Family Care.
Some of the illegal payments came in cash, such as the money Cantrell received from Fromm in return for getting her firm a contract with Cantrell's public employer, the North Township Trustee's Office, the indictment says.
Cantrell also diverted money by getting Fromm to tell her insurance carriers that John and Jennifer Cantrell were her full-time employees when they were not, sources confirmed.
The insurance arrangement lasted from June 1999 to July 2004, the indictment says, during which time Fromm paid group health insurance premiums so two insurance companies -- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Alden Life Insurance Co. -- covered John and Jennifer Cantrell.
Taken together, the fraudulent insurance coverage and Robert Cantrell's under-the-table payments from Fromm totaled about $150,000, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the identities of Person A and Person B, except to say they were not named because they were not charged with crimes.
Robert Cantrell's attorney, Kevin Milner, has said the allegations in the lawsuit are false and he intends to fight the charges in court. Cantrell officially pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Milner specifically declined to comment on the news that two members of Robert Cantrell's family allegedly benefitted from the activities described in the indictment. In general, Milner said the indictment has taken a toll on the Cantrell family.
"I think they have reacted the way anybody would to false allegations," Milner said. "This is a man who is loved and respected by many. Of course (his family members) are hurt and disillusioned that the government would do this."
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