HAMMOND | After two years of investigations and media scrutiny, the first trial is set to begin today for the alleged swindling of the former Gary Urban Enterprise Association.
Lake County Councilman Will Smith Jr., Gary attorney Willie Harris and former county tax collector Roosevelt Powell are on trial for allegedly arranging the sales of two buildings to the GUEA for inflated prices from which they took secret profits.
Other than pleading not guilty, the men have not offered their sides of the story in public statements or court filings. Opening arguments this afternoon could be their first chance to rebut the government's allegations.
All three men have separate defense attorneys. The joint trial before U.S. District Judge Philip Simon is expected to last about two weeks. Essentially, the grand jury indictment alleges three schemes:
-- Smith, Harris and Powell in 2001 "sold" a former Miller grocery store that legally belonged to the Gary Historical and Cultural Society to the GUEA for $200,000 and then took $150,000 of the profits for themselves.
-- Harris fraudulently asked a judge to lower the outstanding tax bill on the grocery store from $60,000 to $15,000, claiming that the building needed to be demolished, even though it was sold that very day for $200,000. Harris then paid the $15,000 tax bill out of the sale proceeds.
-- Powell sold a building in downtown Gary in 2001 to the GUEA for $51,500, not long after he bought it at tax sale for $2,600 and put it in the name of a friend, Dorothy Ard, who is the sister of Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter. Though the GUEA check was made out to Ard, it was placed into Harris' bank. Harris was Carter's campaign manager.
Neither Ard nor Carter is charged with a crime.
Smith, Powell and Harris are charged with one count each of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion. Powell and Harris also face one count each of theft of funds from Lake County.
A total of nine people have been indicted on charges they embezzled from or swindled the GUEA, a not-for-profit economic development group that folded earlier this year after the ongoing scandals made it impossible for new leadership to turn the organization around.
Five people have pleaded guilty to embezzling a total exceeding $1 million: Executive Director Jojuana Meeks, fiscal manager Charmaine Pratchett, board members Johnnie Wright and Derrick Earls, and contractor Greg Hill. Contractor Lawrence Meeks still is awaiting trial.
