Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Oakar was indicted on seven counts, including conspiracy. One of her nephews, Joseph DeMio, also was indicted on a conspiracy count. Another nephew, Ignatius DeMio, agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy misdemeanor.
Both nephews worked for Oakar as campaign aides in 1992.
Oakar, D-Ohio, was the third former member of Congress charged in connection with the scandal, which led to her defeat in 1992 after 16 years in the House.
An internal House inquiry found that she had written 213 bad checks over three years. Those were among thousands of overdrafts written by lawmakers at the in-house bank, but almost all of the other bad-check writers were cleared by a special Justice Department inquiry.
If convicted of all seven counts, Oakar could face up to 40 years in prison and a $1.7 million fine.
In a prepared statement, Oakar attacked the ``selective prosecution by retired, Nixon-appointed ex-Judge Malcolm Wilke and his partisan prosecutors,'' and said, ``At the appropriate time the full truth will speak for itself.''
Wilke, a former federal appellate judge, investigated the House bank problems in 1992 as a Justice Department special counsel.
The crux of the indictment involved a $16,000 bad check written on Oakar's account at the House bank.
by CNB