HAMMOND | Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell told jurors Monday that former Calumet Township Trustee Dozier Allen Jr. and his deputies committed a series of clear, simple crimes when they took checks from a government contract.
"This case is about greed. It's about abuse of power. It's about public corruption," Bell said in his opening statement at Allen's jury trial in Hammond federal court.
The truth isn't so simple, said Allen's attorney, former Gary Mayor Scott King. King didn't dispute that Allen and deputies Wanda Joshua, Ann Marie Karras and Albert Young Jr. took thousands of dollars in checks from a contract linked to federal "welfare-to-work" programs between 2000 and 2002. The defendants believed they had a right to the payments, King said.
"At no time, at no time, did my client act to defraud anybody or anything," King said.
"My client did nothing but his good faith job."
Allen, the township's eight-term elected trustee, and his co-defendants are charged with one count each of mail fraud and honest services fraud. The charges relate to a contract Allen's office signed in November 2000 to give Ivy Tech Community College's Workforce Development Services office information on the township's spending on "welfare-to-work" programs. Prosecutors claim Allen and his deputies paid themselves $140,000 from the contract without permission of the township board.
Allen, Joshua and Karras face trial together, while Young will stand trial later. Judge Philip Simon split trial proceedings for Young because Young's attorney, Kelly White-Gibson, is suffering a severe eye condition.
Bell told the jury Monday that Allen and his deputies simply stole the money. While the defendants paid themselves for no work, the township went broke, Bell said. No documents exist that justify the payments, Bell said.
"The reason being, they didn't do anything," Bell said.
King portrayed Allen as a venerable public servant who steered the township through economic crisis, helping the township's plentiful "have-nots." The township board passed a resolution letting Allen secure and distribute grant money, and a lawyer and consultants told Allen the payments were legal, King said. The contract wasn't Allen's idea and he didn't hide the payments, King said.
"Every step of the way, there was no effort at subterfuge," King said.
Joshua's lawyer, Karen Freeman-Wilson, and Karras' lawyer, James Meyer, both told jurors their clients were just doing their jobs. Karras and Joshua believed the payments were legal, the lawyers said.
Testimony will continue today.
Outside the courtroom after jury selection, Allen said, "I feel good."
