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 CLEVELAND, OHIO--Charges of public corruption among Republicans in Ohio have widened with a 53-count indictment being filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court Monday against Thomas W. Noe, a former Republican party fundraiser and coin dealer.
As the culmination of a 10-month investigation, Noe, 51,former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Committee was charged with embezzling at least $1 million and perhaps more than $3 million from the state. He pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $500,000 bail. He has been living in Florida with his wife, Bernadette.
The indictment is the result of Noe's handling of a $50 million investment fund created by the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation by buying and selling rare coins. Noe has managed the bureau's investments since 1998. Prosecutors said that he wrote himself checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He has been charged with one count of racketeering, 11 counts of theft, 11 counts of money laundering, eight counts of tampering with public records and 22 counts of forgery. All charges are felonies. Prosecutors allege that Noe forged checks, tampered with records interchanged state money with his own personal accounts.
If convicted on all counts, he could face 172 ½ years in prison. He could be sentenced up to 28 years if convicted of for racketeering and the theft violations, the most serious. The racketeering charge carries a mandatory 10-year sentence.
Noe's business partner in Vintage Coins and Collectibles, Timothy LaPointe, was also indicted. According to the indictments, LaPointe allegedly borrowed coins from other businesses and individuals and fraudulently listed them as belonging to the state in annual audits of 2002, 2003 and 2004. LaPointe has been charged with one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity under the RICO law and six counts of tampering with records.
Noe and his wife, who is also a former Lucas County Republican chairperson, have reportedly given more than $100,000 in political contributions to local, state and federal candidates. Prosecutors aren't saying if any of the money that Noe allegedly embezzled was used for political contributions.
In October, a federal grand jury returned a three count indictment against Noe for allegedly laundering $45,000 into President Bush's re-election campaign. Noe, a close personal friend of Ohio Gov. Robert Taft, had surrendered to the FBI in Miami and was released after posting $1 million bond secured by the property in the Florida Keys that is in the name of his wife.
He was later arraigned in a Toledo federal court.
The three-count federal indictment against Noe accused him of conspiracy, public corruption, false statements and violations of the federal campaign contribution act, and alleges that beginning in October 2003, Noe made contributions to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign over and above the limits established by the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). He did so, according to the indictment, in order to fulfill his pledge to raise $50,000 for a Bush-Cheney fundraiser held in Columbus, Ohio on Oct. 30, 2003.
The indictment alleges that Noe disguised his contributions by recruiting and providing money to friends and associates who made campaign contributions in their own names. The indictment also alleges that Noe wrote several checks in amounts slightly less than the maximum allowable amount so as to avoid suspicion. Altogether, Noe allegedly contributed $45,400 of his own money through 24 friends and associates who then made the contributions in their names in order to skirt the $2,000 limit for individual contributors.
Noe is charged with making contributions in the names of others, in violation of the FECA's anti-conduit provision. The indictment charges that Noe also conspired to make contributions in the names of others, to cause the submission of false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and to defraud the United States. The indictment alleges that Noe caused the conduits to fill out contribution cards and forms falsely certifying that they were making the contributions themselves, and that these false statements caused President Bush's campaign committee to unknowingly submit a false campaign finance report to the FEC. The campaign committee has been fully cooperative with the government's investigation.
If convicted on the federal charges, Noe faces a maximum sentence on each count of five years in prison. The conspiracy and false statement counts carry a maximum fine of $250,000, and the FECA count carries a mandatory fine of between $136,200 and $454,000.
According to a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, the Bush-Cheney campaign donated $6,000 that it received from the Noes to charity. Records indicate that the Noes gave $4,000 to Bush-Cheney and $2,000 to the RNC.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro had accused Noe of stealing up to $4 million from the state workers compensation fund. Noe has acknowledged that nearly $13 million was in question.
It was revealed Tuesday that federal prosecutors are looking into pay for play allegations made by two Akron-area lawyers who said that they were denied state contracts by Petro after they refused to donate Petro's 2002 election campaign.
Last August, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft became the first Ohio governor ever charged with a crime when prosecutors filed four misdemeanor counts against him for violations of state ethics laws stemming from his failure to report 52 gifts which included golf games, meals and professional sports tickets.
He pleaded no contest to the charges and was fined $4,000, the maximum.
Ohio law says that public officers are required to report all gifts that are worth more than $75 if the donor is not reimbursed. Among the gifts at issue were golf outings with Noe.
In July, Taft's former chief of staff, Brian Hicks, pleaded no contest to failing to report vacations at Noe's home in Florida. Hicks was fined $1,000.
Last week, two of Taft's former aides were charged with failing to report loans and other favors from Noe. 2-14-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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