HAMMOND | Criminal defense lawyer John Cantrell says he's not a government snitch even though he is being called an "important" witness in the federal public corruption case against his father, Lake County political operative Bob Cantrell.

"I have been called by the government as a reluctant witness and have absolutely nothing negative to say about my father," John Cantrell told The Times late Tuesday. "To the contrary, it is my honest belief that my father has done nothing wrong, and I intend to testify to that in court."

The unusual public statement by a witness just before a high-profile trial came after Bob Cantrell's defense attorney, Kevin Milner, said during a routine court hearing in Hammond federal court Friday that the son will be an important government witness. The trial begins Tuesday.

Bob Cantrell was indicted on charges that, among other things, he convinced a North Township contractor to put John Cantrell on a health insurance plan even though John Cantrell was not an employee of the firm, Addiction and Family Care, according to the indictment and sources close to the case.

John Cantrell's health insurance was approved during a time when the firm also was giving Bob Cantrell cash payments from the profits it was receiving from a contract with Bob Cantrell's employer, the North Township trustee's office.

In addition to his insurance fraud counts, Bob Cantrell was indicted last year on charges he received the payments, which were an illegal conflict of interest, and evaded income taxes on the payments, federal prosecutors allege.

John Cantrell has not been charged with a crime, but he testified before the grand jury investigating his father.

The issue about John Cantrell's trial testimony arose Friday because Milner was complaining to U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry that prosecutors Orest Szewciw and Wayne Ault were refusing to hand over copies of John Cantrell's grand jury transcripts until the day of trial.

"I've been practicing for 26 years. This is the first time ever that someone's tried to do this," Milner told Cherry. "I have no idea what (John Cantrell) said in there. I will not be able to review it."

Other witnesses expected to testify in the three-week trial include former North Township Trustee Greg Cvitkovich, Addiction and Family Care owner Nancy Fromm, disgraced former Schererville Town Judge Deb Riga, and various employees of Fromm and the township.

Fromm, whose addiction counseling firm has done business with courts across Lake County, pleaded guilty last year to two federal felonies.

In a plea agreement, Fromm admitted to illegally hiding her business profits from a grand jury and then under-reporting her personal income in 2003. The plea set the stage for Fromm to cooperate with other federal investigations into alleged public corruption.