No retrial for Cantrell
Lake County politico disputed his fraud conviction
Journal Gazette, The (Fort Wayne, IN)
November 23, 2008
A federal judge has denied a new fraud and tax evasion trial for convicted Lake County political insider Robert Cantrell, who faces up to 152 years in prison.
Cantrell was convicted in June of 11 counts of fraud and tax evasion for taking profits from a public contract he helped engineer while working for North Township and hiding the profits from the Internal Revenue Service.
Defense attorney Kevin Milner had moved for Cantrell's acquittal on the argument that no witness ever formally identified Cantrell in Hammond federal court during his trial this year.
But U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano rejected that argument in a ruling Friday.
"Despite this lack of formal identification, nine witnesses testified about their interaction with 'the Defendant, Robert Cantrell,' and many witnesses testified that he was present in court," Lozano wrote.
Cantrell, 66, of Schererville is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19.
Cantrell has been involved in Lake County politics since the 1960s, when he became the on-again, off-again chairman of the East Chicago Republican Party. Over the years, he has been accused of conspiring with Democrats to use his influence to weaken the county Republican Party.
He eventually was kicked out of the GOP for openly supporting Democrats, including his daughter, Julie, for a county judgeship.
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