HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — Lake County political insider Robert Cantrell faces 152 years in prison after being convicted of 11 counts of fraud and tax evasion for taking profits from a contract he helped put together.

Jurors deliberated about 5 1/2 hours late Friday before finding Cantrell, 66, guilty on all 11 counts included in a federal indictment. He’s due to be sentenced Oct. 28.

He was convicted of illegally earning profits from a North Township contract he helped engineer while working for the township and then convincing that contractor to fraudulently add two nnon-employeesto its health insurance plan.

He also was convicted of hiding the profits from the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecutors alleged that Cantrell failed to report more than $100,000 during the four years covered by the indictment.

Cantrell will face a restitution order to repay the IRS and the North Township trustee’s office, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Orest Szewciw. It was not immediately clear how much the restitution would be.

“The jury listened very attentively, evaluated the evidence and determined that we proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Szewciw said.

Defense attorney Kevin Milner did not comment immediately. Cantrell did not take the stand in his own defense during the seven-day trial that was delayed by his mother’s funeral.

He was convicted of four counts of honest services fraud, three counts of insurance fraud and four counts of filing false tax returns.

Cantrell and friend Nancy Fromm, owner of the Addiction and Family Care counseling firm, were targeted by U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen’s probe of public corruption for years. Fromm last year pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax evasion charges and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Milner argued that Cantrell was making thousands of dollars legally from the firm and would have saved little in taxes by hiding a relatively small amount. He also argued that prosecution witnesses such as Fromm were facing time in prison on their own corruption convictions.

“Wouldn’t you like to hear from someone who isn’t facing time in prison?” Milner asked jurors during his closing statement.

Milner said the government was attacking Cantrell because of who he was, rather than what he had done. “He’s on trial for being a politician. Let’s be honest,” he said.

Cantrell has been involved in Lake County politics since the 1960s, when he became the on-again, off-again chairman of the East Chicago Republican Party. Over the years, he has been accused of conspiring with county Democrats to use his influence to weaken the county Republican Party.

He eventually was kicked out of the GOP for openly supporting Democrats, including his daughter, Julie, for a county judgeship. He never has been elected to public office.

Posted 6/9/2008