Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SOUTH BEND - Another delay in a criminal federal court case against a local family involved in an alleged mobile home lending scheme led the judge to chide the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Linda and Joe Hagar of Syracuse and their children, Valerie M. Chupp, Syracuse; Margaret L. Stump, Milford; and Woodrow S. Hagar, Warsaw, allegedly defrauded about a dozen people - including several in Kosciusko County.
The delay in going to trial in the case resulted because Joe and Linda Hagar's former defense attorney, Joseph Van Bokkelen, was nominated by President George Bush as northern Indiana's next U.S. Attorney. The current attorney in the case is Stephen Scheele, who works for Van Bokkelen's law firm.
The family members are accused of bilking lending institutions of $2.1 million by applying for loans in the names of customers of five businesses they operated, including Paramount Homes and Turkey Run Estates. The allegations against them reportedly took place between April 1997 and October 1999. Charges were filed against the family members after a grand jury handed down an 18-count indictment in August 2000.
At the most recent hearing in the case, U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp expected to hear a plea for the accused, but instead learned that the U.S. Attorney's Office was withdrawing from the case.
Because Van Bokkelen's nomination creates a potential conflict of interest, a U.S. Justice Department team from Washington, D.C., will prosecute the case.
Sharp gave the Justice Department team until Sept. 21 to be ready for a hearing, when a trial date will likely be set.
