U.S. Attorney talks about ups and downs of first year in office

U.S. Attorney Stephanie Rose said her first year in office taught some valuable and at times, frustrating lessons, as she wrapped up some big cases – some which had been pending for years.

Rose, appointed as the first female U.S. Attorney in Iowa last November, didn't have much of a “honeymoon” phase in her new role before taking some harsh criticism over one of the most publicized immigration cases the office has ever prosecuted.

Former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin, 50, of Postville, was convicted by a jury in 2009 of 86 bank fraud counts and sentenced last June to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $26 million in restitution.

The charges stemmed from the 2008 immigration raid at the Postville meatpacking plant where more than 400 illegal workers were arrested. The government didn't pursue the immigration charges against the company after it went bankrupt or on Rubashkin.

According to a motion filed in 2009, the dismissal was based on expense and Rubashkin's conviction on the financial fraud charges which would outweigh sentencing guidelines if he were found guilty of the immigration charges.

The government during the trial presented evidence of a sophisticated fraud scheme in which he funneled about $1.5 million from Agriprocessors' accounts to his personal bank accounts and he paid for illegal documents for workers just days before the immigration raid.

Rose said the Rubashkin case was frustrating for her because his conviction and wrongdoing was overshadowed by accusations of wrongful prosecution by the defense and its public relations machine out of New York.

“The defense put out many facts that were not accurate and any attempt we made to tell the truth…it just didn't help, so we stopped,” Rose said.

Rubashkin's lawyers argued U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade unlawfully presided over his trial because she was involved in planning the immigration raid.

“The goal of this case was to prevent future crimes like this, as well as to punish Rubashkin,” Rose said. “This case was important for those that are taking advantage of and employing illegal immigrants but all of that got lost with this other stuff. We are hoping the appeal process will correct some of that.”

Another case pending for a few years in the district involved a former Cedar Rapids landlord, Robert Miell, 56, who was convicted in 2009 but he wasn't sentenced until last September to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $728,000 in victim's restitution.

Rose said this case was important because it affected many in the area who had rented from Miell and fallen victim to a false damage deposit scheme.

Miell was at one time the largest landlord in Linn County. He pleaded guilty to 18 counts of mail fraud and two counts of perjury and was found guilty by a jury in January 2009 of two counts of tax fraud. The charges stem from fraudulent reports to American Family Insurance of more than $336,000 in storm damage at 145 of his properties and a damage deposit scheme against tenants for false repairs when they moved out.

Rose said closing those time consuming, complicated cases allowed the assistants to get back to the typical cases of the district such as drug and gun crimes, child pornography, various fraud and bank robbery.

“There was a lot of re-balancing and growth for the office,” she said. “We were always operating in crisis mode because we weren't fully staffed.”

In the last few years, some of the assistants had been on leave for several months at a time for military duty or for other special assignments with the Department of Justice, but all are back except for C.J. Williams, who will be gone for nine months on special assignment.

The child pornography crimes have gone up but the gun crimes have remained steady for the last few years, Rose said.

“The gun crimes are important because there's usually more to the story than appears on the face of the crime (felons in possession of firearm charges),” Rose said. “These are dangerous people and we can give them more time in prison for a longer period of time than through state courts. Frankly, we can get them off the streets for awhile because these are usually the ones who re-offend over and over and exhaust local law enforcement.”

Rose said this next year will be tough with the federal budget crisis, which could affect local offices' resources, travel expenses and possibly personnel. There may be more earlier retirements, she said.

However, the 94 U.S. Attorneys' Offices across the country did make money for the Department of Justice this year to reach an all time high in recoveries – $6.68 billion, Rose said. Of that amount, this district collected nearly $4.6 million – $1.3 million from civil actions, $1.2 million from criminal and nearly $2.1 million in criminal and civil forfeitures.

The Northern District charged 403 defendants this year, compared to 348 in 2009 and 634 in 2008. The high in 2008 was a result of the Agriprocessors raid.