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Thursday, December 21, 2006
Ind. Courts - "Another judge levels allegations against Robert Cantrell"
Joe Carlson of the NWI Times reports:
EAST CHICAGO | Political operative Robert Cantrell is denying allegations from a second judge that he tried to cajole the court into hiring a counseling firm that was paying Cantrell fees.In a sworn deposition, East Chicago Judge Sonya Morris said Cantrell threatened to run a challenger against her during the 2003 election unless she agreed to send all of her drug-addicted criminal defendants to treatment at a firm owned by a friend of Cantrell's.
The firm, Addiction and Family Care, is paid to treat clients for court-ordered addiction counseling. At the time, Cantrell was receiving a finder's fee from the firm for each person he could convince judges to refer to them.
Morris said in 2003, she received a message that Cantrell was threatening to put former city judge Eduardo Fontanez in the race against her unless she agreed to make Addiction and Family Care the court's sole counseling provider. * * *
Morris' comments echo accusations from Lake Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando, who said Cantrell tried to convince him to hire Addiction and Family Care for his court.
Fontanez, who did not return a call for comment Wednesday, ran against Villalpando this year and lost. Villalpando has said Fontanez was put into the race by Cantrell because of the judge's flat refusal to refer business to Addiction and Family Care.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 21, 2006 08:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts