By: Sarah Tompkins

HAMMOND | Prosecutors have not turned over any evidence of false or  misleading statements in Lake County Coroner Thomas Philpot’s public corruption  case, his attorney says in a new filing.

Chicago attorney Leonard Goodman said the alleged deceitful statements are a  necessary element of the fraud charges, and the defense needs to know what, if  any, evidence prosecutors have so it can prepare for trial.

A grand jury indicted Philpot last fall on three counts of mail fraud and two  counts of theft from a federally funded program. According to the indictment,  between 2004 and 2009 Philpot devised a scheme to steal more than $24,000 in  incentive money intended for employees who helped collect child support  payments.

At the time, Philpot was Lake County clerk. And according to a state statute,  an elected official could not receive such bonuses without County Council  permission.

While the indictment alleges Philpot knew he was not entitled to the money,  Goodman claims Philpot did not know, and that he repaid the money with interest  as soon as he became aware — before any federal investigation.

Monday was the deadline for filing pretrial motions, but according to  documents filed in the evening, the defense received additional discovery  materials from prosecutors Monday via FedEx. But as with the thousands of  documents already reviewed, the defense says it has yet to find evidence of  fraudulent statements.

“Maybe there’s some smoking gun out there we don’t have, but it seems to be a  meritless prosecution,” Goodman said.

He’s also asking prosecutors for all evidence pointing to Philpot’s  innocence. The motion lists several specific requests, including a request for  evidence Philpot asked others for assurance the payments were legal, that he was  not directly involved in deciding what portion of the funds he received and that  he made no attempt to conceal his salary increase or avoid its review by the Lake County Council or State Board of Accounts.

Mary Hatton, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said the office  could not comment because of the ongoing investigation.

Original article can be found Here