Detore case set for trial June 16

The case includes $3,219 spent at a Washington restaurant.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Virginia engineer Richard E. Detore, the last co-defendant accused of illegally enriching former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., has lost his bid to avoid trial.
At a final pretrial Thursday in U.S. District Court, Dallas defense attorney Thomas W. Mills Jr. called two witnesses -- Detore and Paul P. Marcone.
Marcone, Traficant's longtime chief of staff and press secretary in Washington, D.C., resigned in November 2000.
After the testimony, U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich denied Mills' motion to dismiss the case against Detore. The trial, set for June 16, is expected to last two weeks.
Detore, 43, of Fairfax County, Va., was indicted in October 2001 and charged with conspiracy to violate the federal bribery statute. If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Detore's trial is the last in the Traficant saga.
Bernard J. Bucheit, a retired contractor, was found guilty last month of paying Traficant an illegal gratuity and lying about it to a grand jury. He will be sentenced July 14.
Detore's case is being prosecuted by Matthew B. Kall and Ann C. Rowland, assistant U.S. attorneys.
Thursday's testimony centered on whether a House ethics committee lawyer had OK'd the purchase of Traficant's vintage houseboat by Albert Lange, an employee of USAerospace Group, once owned by J.J. Cafaro of Liberty.
In the late 1990s, Traficant used his influence to promote USAG's laser-guidance technology with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Boat transaction
Marcone testified that the ethics committee lawyer approved the boat transaction, as long as the boat was sold at fair market value.
Detore, former USAG chief operating officer, testified Thursday that he expressed concerns about the transaction to Cafaro, Traficant and others.
The defense tried to show that it was unfair to prosecute Detore because he relied on advice received from the ethics committee.
The government, in the indictment, said Traficant, Cafaro, Lange and Detore agreed to conceal Cafaro's purchase of the boat by making it appear as though Lange bought the boat. Lange and Cafaro admitted their part in the scheme at Traficant's trial, which ended with a guilty verdict April 11, 2002.
Lange said cover stories were devised to make it appear that he really wanted to restore and own the boat, which he didn't. Lange testified with immunity; Cafaro testified as a condition of his plea agreement.
The government's case against Detore includes an allegation that, from April 1998 through December 1999, USAG paid $3,219 for meals at the Taverna in Washington, D.C., for Traficant and Detore.
Judge Aldrich said 12 jurors and two alternates will be chosen for Detore's trial.
While in Cleveland this week, Detore was scheduled to be deposed in a civil lawsuit against Cafaro. Detore sued after being fired by Cafaro.
In 1983, when Traficant was Mahoning County sheriff, Judge Aldrich presided over his first corruption trial. He won acquittal representing himself against charges that he took mob money during his campaign for sheriff.
Traficant again represented himself at trial last year. The jury found him guilty of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion.
The 62-year-old Poland man began serving an eight-year prison sentence July 30, 2002.
Detore declined to testify at Traficant's trial, but he did testify afterward on the congressman's behalf before a House ethics subcommittee last summer. The House expelled Traficant on July 24, 2002.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;meade@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;