Lakin says he is broke

Any case prosecuted in federal court that results in a federal sentence to the Bureau of Prisons will result in a civil commitment hearing under the Adam Walsh Act (See Sec. 4248).

8-1-2008 National:

EAST ST. LOUIS --He was once one of the most successful lawyers in Madison County; now a federal judge says he's broke.

L. Thomas Lakin appeared before U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert on Thursday so his lawyers could reintroduce a possible plea deal on federal drug and sex charges. Gilbert said another hearing on the matter will be scheduled later.

The proposed deal requires Lakin, 68, to plead guilty to drug charges in exchange for a six-year prison sentence. The deal also requires him to pay $180,000 in restitution. In exchange, prosecutors would drop the charges of taking a minor across state lines for sexual purposes.

Gilbert questioned where Lakin was getting the money to pay the restitution and whether he cooperated with probation officers who compiled personal, professional and financial information for a pre-sentence investigation.

Gilbert has the pre-sentence investigation report, which is sealed.

"He's broke," Gilbert said. "Where's this money coming from?"

Gilbert Sison and Scott Rosenblum, Lakin's lawyer, told the judge the restitution would be paid from a trust and that the trustee, Lakin's son Brad Lakin, would agree to the payment.

Gilbert questioned whether Lakin fully disclosed how much was in the trust to probation officers, but Sison said the attorneys for the trust did not turn over those financial records because Lakin was a beneficiary, not the trustee.

Gilbert looked to U.S. Attorney Steve Clark, then Rosenblum, then to Sison, then back to Clark.

"How did you come to a restitution figure without knowing what his assets are?" Gilbert asked.

Tom Lakin was the trustee of the trust, but Sison said at some point, the trust was turned over to Brad Lakin.

Under the proposed plea agreement, Lakin would not have to register as a sex offender. A sexual conviction would also lead to a different classification in federal prison and could make him eligible for civil commitment under the Adam Walsh Act, which went into effect in 2006.

Under the new law, sexually dangerous means that the defendant has engaged or attempted to engage in child molestation and suffers from serious mental illness, abnormality or disorder resulting in serious difficulty refraining from child molestation if released.

Gilbert rejected a similar plea deal in March and ordered a pre-sentence investigation into Lakin's background. That investigation was completed in June.

Lakin previously pleaded not guilty to 18 sex and drug charges related to cocaine possession and transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. Lakin is accused of taking a boy across state lines with the intent to have sex and of providing cocaine to females to lure them into having sex with the boy, and has denied the allegations.

Brad Lakin bought the Wood River-based Lakin Law Firm from his father in 2001, but Tom Lakin stayed on a while longer. In November 2005, Brad Lakin said his father was resigning and entering a drug treatment program.

Gary Peel, Tom Lakin's former law partner, is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence on child pornography charges.

In January 2006, Peel put into his ex-wife's mailbox nude pictures of her younger sister, and said he'd mail them to her parents if she didn't drop her challenge to his bankruptcy, which could have voided their financial settlement. Peel had taken the pictures in 1974, when he had an affair with his sister-in-law, who was 16 at the time.

Upon release, Peel must register as a sex offender. ..News Source.. by BETH HUNDSDORFER