WABASH CO./U.S. DISTRICT COURT, BENTON—Intelligent readers were getting a chuckle out of a front-page story in the weekend edition of what’s left of Mt. Carmel’s newspaper.
The article was about the big news last week coming out of federal court that long-time Mt. Carmel businessman Kevin Williams, 52, was set for a “change of plea” hearing this Wednesday in his federal theft case. This theft charged against him by indictment last December, alleging that he stole multiple millions from the Spond family in Mt. Carmel over three years’ time (which was all the time the feds could go back on, sadly; records show Williams was allegedly stealing such funds for potentially as long as over 20 years).
Here’s the part that made us, and several other people who were kind enough to notify us of it, literally laugh out loud:
Despite speculation by other media outlets that Williams would plead guilty, no one Friday knew or would say if he indeed would plead guilty to any or all of the 35 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering he faces. Neither Williams nor his attorney returned phone calls.
Newsflash: There are only a couple of pleas other than “guilty” or “not guilty” a person can enter in federal court; one is nolo contendre, generally a bad idea as Williams would have to have the court’s consent, and he’s not exactly in that position right now. A fourth, “failure to enter,” wouldn’t apply. So there aren’t a lot of options here; to make fun of “other media” speculating isn’t exactly the epitome of cool, as it’s not really “speculation” according to rules of the court.
Kevin Williams, shamelessly ripped from the DRR and appearing via Fair Use Act.
Williams, in all likelihood, saw the level of evidence amassed against him by the particular brand of federal investigators who are lightning fast and accurate with a calculator and who dream about numbers, and, just like former Bridgeport mayor Max Schauf before him, probably saw the writing on the wall and decided it would go better for him in the end if he would enter a guilty plea instead of a not guilty plea, in order to negotiate with federal prosecutors regarding how long a prison sentence would be. Of course, as a first-time offender, there may BE no prison sentence, but that “first-time offender” status is in itself questionable, as Williams has been charged with Theft in the past….and errant special prosecutor David “Rollover” Rands dismissed it.
Trying to soft-pedal the situation with the locals isn’t endearing anyone to the DRR, especially when they’re also ignoring civil cases in which Williams has been involved. Read our coverage of it, then compare; we’ll have a brief Wednesday when the situation makes it to the federal online site, PACER, and then you can read everything in full, with greater coverage than any other local media, right here at the e-Edition, or in our print version, on stands beginning a week from tomorrow (Tuesday, June 11, 2013).