CLEVELAND Sugar says he did work for Traficant

The government doesn't need audio tapes. It has the word of witnesses, a professor says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Contractor A. David Sugar Sr. said it got too expensive to keep doing work for U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., so he stopped after the cost reached $10,000 to $12,000.
Sugar, who owns Honey Creek Contracting in Petersburg, testified today that he and Traficant met at a Perkins Restaurant in Canfield in late 1999 or early 2000 to discuss Sugar's son's felony DUI conviction in Licking County.
As soon as Traficant agreed to help, he asked the Sugars to accompany him to his horse farm in Greenford, and showed them things he wanted done, according to testimony.
Sugar said he was concerned about his son spending time in a jail in Licking County, and wanted him moved to a halfway house in Mahoning County. He said Traficant would have the influence to get his son a lighter sentence.
Work done at the farm included drainage repairs, roads cut in, stone hauled, grading and the preparation of a manure pit, according to Sugar's testimony.
Craig S. Morford, lead prosecutor, asked Sugar today if Traficant inquired about the cost. Sugar said no.
"My understanding, I was doing it for free because he was helping me with my son," Sugar said. "He was asking for favors and I felt obligated."
Sugar said Traficant recommended using Atty. Mark S. Colucci in the Licking County case. Sugar said he was under the assumption that Colucci would not charge for the service because Traficant said Colucci "owed him some favors."
Sugar said his son took a company check and, without his knowledge, paid Colucci $7,000. Colucci later requested $25,000 more, Sugar said.
Sugar, very upset, told his son to go find another attorney and called Traficant, The congressman also advised not to pay Colucci any more, Sugar said.
So far, 39 witnesses have testified in the case against Traficant.
No-win situation? A law professor says that people shouldn't be so quick to count Traficant out -- he can be cunning,
"He's a fox," said Lewis R. Katz, who teaches law at Case Western Reserve University. "Everyone's inclination is to underestimate him, but he's much smarter than people think."
Katz summed up Traficant's self-representation by saying the congressman doesn't know what he's doing and needs a lawyer. That's not to say he won't be able to persuade one juror to see things his way, Katz said.
"He's played this game before," Katz said. When Traficant won acquittal representing himself in 1983 on bribery charges, everyone assumed the government had strong evidence then, too, the law professor said.
Evidence: Traficant's statements to reporters last week that the government has no "principal evidence" in its racketeering case against him is ridiculous, Katz said.
Traficant, of Poland, D-17th, contends that the prosecution, to prove its case, should have his fingerprints on incriminating evidence, a videotape or audio tape of him confessing to kickbacks. Someone, he maintains, should have worn a wire for the FBI.
"That's ridiculous -- they have statements from witnesses about kickbacks or how he took advantage of his position in Congress," Katz said.
"Who knows," Katz said about a possible defense. He said it would have to be a "widespread conspiracy" to fit into Traficant's 1983 vendetta theory.
Witnesses: If just one or two contractors testified they did work for free at Traficant's horse farm in Greenford, the congressman might make the argument stick that none of their testimony is true, Katz said. The parade of contractors, though, shows a "devastating pattern."
Even so, Katz finds the congressional staffers' kickbacks and farm work the most damaging testimony so far. He called it the "worst kind of exploitation."
Traficant claims witnesses were pressured to give the government something on him.
Katz said the 60-year-old congressman may get some witnesses to admit being pressured, but it doesn't necessarily change the point of their testimony. Oftentimes, he said, the witness -- or the relative of a witness -- can be threatened with prosecution.
There's no way to prosecute some crimes without going after the people who engage in the same behavior, Katz said.
Only two key witnesses remain: Sugar Sr. and J.J. Cafaro. That's not to say that the government has only two witnesses left to call.
The prosecution team -- Morford, Bernard A. Smith and Matthew B. Kall -- began with a list of 60-plus witnesses.
Trial's status: Today marks the 21st trial day, and the prosecution said it expected to complete its case within the next two weeks.
Although Traficant is not required to put on a defense, he says he will call witnesses on his behalf.
Since testimony began Feb. 13, the government has worked its way through five of the 10 counts -- conspiracy to commit bribery (key witness: Anthony R. Bucci); conspiracy to violate the bribery statute (key witness: R. Allen Sinclair), seeking and accepting illegal gratuities (Sinclair); obstruction of justice (Sinclair); conspiracy to defraud the United States (kickbacks, houseboat and farm labor).
The remaining counts include violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and two each of conspiracy to violate the bribery statute (Sugar and Cafaro) and tax evasion. The RICO count, which includes a $100,000 forfeiture, comprises all the crimes alleged.
Testimony: Sugar admitted in October 2000 that he lied to a grand jury when he said his company billed and received payment from the congressman for work. Sugar also admitted that he directed his secretary to create fake invoices and mailing dates and give the records to an FBI agent in response to a grand jury subpoena.
The work included trenches and the use of hay equipment at the farm and a concrete floor in a barn at Traficant's Poland residence.
Sugar faces 18 to 24 months in prison, but his cooperation -- testifying -- could reduce the sentence to 10 to 16 months.
Traficant is accused of contacting the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corporation for Sugar, who wanted to win a contract to demolish the Higbee building downtown.
Cafaro, a vice president with The Cafaro Co., is not expected to testify until next week. He has pleaded guilty to giving Traficant $13,000 in cash and paying for $26,000 worth of repairs on the congressman's houseboat in return for congressional favors.
First up this morning to testify was Sue Beegle, Sugar's former secretary at Honey Creek. She admitted that, at Sugar's direction, she falsified Traficant's invoices.
Documents: Last Friday, FBI Special Agent Deane Hassman said he first visited Sugar's company on April 26, 2000. At the time, Traficant's file had three documents in it, including a partial payment of $1,142.
The December 1999 payment was made about two weeks after the congressman's office and phone records were subpoenaed by Morford.
When Hassman returned May 18, 2000, he gave advance notice that he would arrive about 5:30 p.m. The Traficant file then contained a dozen documents.
On Hassman's third visit, May 23, 2000, a check of Beegle's office computer showed that some invoices had been created nearly a year after the date they represented. They also had been modified about 20 minutes before Hassman's May 18 visit, the computer showed.
Beegle said Sugar had directed her to create and back-date invoices showing billing and create a file for the FBI.
Beegle said she initially lied to the FBI, at Sugar's direction, confirming that her handwritten mailing dates on the invoices were accurate. Later, Beegle said she admitted to the FBI what she had done.
"I didn't want to lie," said Beegle, who now lives in Lexington, Ky.
Beegle, again at the direction of Sugar, also created invoices in March 2000 for hauling hay machines.
Under questioning today by Traficant, Beegle acknowledged that he never directed her to do anything.
On March 17, 2000, after a tip that machinery was being hauled away from Traficant's farm, the FBI set up surveillance and followed the flat-bed, registered to Sugar, to western Pennsylvania. The equipment, described by Hassman as hay baling equipment, was delivered to Dean Foods property, owned by KirilaConstruction.
The truck driver also testified today.
The equipment, described Friday by Traficant as hay mowers, was towed by Gobel's and remains in storage. Hassman said it was taken after being declared abandoned property.
meade@vindy.com