CROWN POINT | A judge is ordering lawyers who defended three East Chicago city officials convicted in the Sidewalk Six case to repay that city $453,282 in legal fees.
Lake Superior Court Judge John Pera ruled Wednesday that former East Chicago City Controller Edwardo Maldonado illegally paid four law firms that amount in 2004 for their services in defending Maldonado and former City Councilmen Frank Kollintzas and Joe De La Cruz against federal public corruption charges.
Pera ordered attorney Kevin Milner of Merrillville to repay $47,250; Tsoutsouris & Bertig of Valparaiso to repay $51,444; Cotsirilos Tighe & Streicker Ltd. to repay $63,923; and Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP to repay $290,665.
Milner, Tsoutsouris and Cotsirilos didn't return calls Wednesday for comment. A spokesman for Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP declined comment. East Chicago City Attorney Carmen Fernandez said Wednesday, "We are pleased with the judge's ruling."
The city filed suit five years ago to reclaim the money in the wake of a host of criminal conviction the arose from the U.S. attorney's office indicting six city officials on charges they illegally spent $25.5 million in public city funds to promote the 1999 re-election of former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick as well as his City Council allies.
The $25.5 million was used to pay a host of contractors to pour acres of concrete to replace public curbs, sidewalks and private driveways and trim and remove trees from public and private property in return for promises from residents in those neighborhoods that they would vote for incumbent city officials in that spring's primary.
Pastrick wasn't charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but he was ordered in March by a federal judge to pay more than $108 million to the city of East Chicago for his role in the sidewalks-for-votes scandal.
Maldonado used his position as East Chicago's top fiscal officer to direct city funds to pay legal fees for defense lawyers he, Kollintzas and De La Cruz hired, under authority of a city ordinance.
A federal jury convicted Maldonado, Kollintzas and De La Cruz on Nov. 10, 2004, of misappropriation of public money.
Pera said in his ruling Monday that Maldonado, who kept the East Chicago city's checkbook for three months after his conviction, illegally continued funneling city money to the officials' defense funds.
Pera said the lawyers, who accepted the money, should have realized the city ordinance forbid the payments once the officials were convicted of wrongdoing.
Maldonado later pleaded guilty in federal court that making the payments was a crime. He was ordered to pay $453,282 in restitution, but a city official who asked to remain anonymous said they have been unable to collect from Maldonado, who has been in prison the last five years and won't be released until 2014.
Kollintzas fled to Greece before his sentencing in 2005 and has remained beyond the reach of U.S. law. De La Cruz only recently has been release from prison.
