HAMMOND | Three Gary men took $150,000 of the $200,000 sale price of a building they didn't own because they deserved the money, their defense lawyers argued in court Monday.

The men -- County Councilman Will Smith Jr., tax collector Roosevelt Powell, and attorney Willie Harris -- had to work together in 2001 to sell a vacant grocery store to the Gary Urban Enterprise Association, attorneys said during the first day of the first GUEA fraud case to go to trial.

During opening arguments Monday, prosecutors said the profits the trio derived from the sale involving the Gary Historical and Cultural Society were illegal, and doubly so because they weren't immediately reported on federal income tax returns.

"This case is about greed. The defendants stole $150,000 from a public charity, and then concealed that from the IRS," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said.

But in separate statements, defense attorneys for the three men said each played a legitimate role in engineering the sale to the corrupt GUEA that justified their respective cuts of the profits, and amended their taxes to reflect that two years later.

"The evidence is going to show that Will Smith has spent his entire life trying to better the community he's in," defense attorney Fred Work said. "He didn't defraud anyone. I'm not certain a fraud was even committed."

On paper, the shuttered store at 6300 Miller Ave. was donated by the family of Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas to the Gary historical society as a tax write-off in December 2000. Ten months later, the GUEA bought the building for $200,000, but the society got to keep only $50,000 of the profits.

Smith received $75,000 from the GUEA sale for his role in connecting the sellers with a local youth baseball charity, although that sale never took place and the building eventually went to the GUEA, Work said.

Harris received $50,000 because he did all the legal work on the two sales, which came after a long history of service Harris has donated to the society and its founder, Dharathula Millender, who is also Harris' stepaunt, defense attorney Thomas Mullins said.

"Maybe the people here should have been more generous with (Millender). But Willie had donated legal services to the historical society for years," Mullins said. "She now felt that it was time to repay Willie for years of his time and efforts."

Powell received $25,000, with a promise of another $5,000 through a separate GUEA sale that month, as a 15 percent "commission" for connecting Harris with GUEA Director Jojuana Meeks, defense attorney Kevin Milner said.

"Mr. Powell said (to Harris), ‘If I can find a buyer for you, will you give me a commission?' " Milner said. "There was absolutely nothing illegal or unethical about taking a finder's fee of this type."

Meeks, Millender, Costas, and Lake County Auditor Peggy Holinga Katona are all expected to testify during the seven-day trial, and Work said Smith plans to testify in his own defense. Nine people have been charged with swindling the GUEA of more than $1 million, but the grocery store case is the first to go to trial.