Six years after a federal jury found him guilty of money laundering, a local defense attorney must finally report to prison.
U.S. District Judge William Lee ordered this week that Jerry Jarrett, 57, of Hammond, must serve 37 months in prison and pay a fine of $92,000. He is supposed to report to prison Jan. 25, 13 years after his crime.
Federal prosecutors charged that in 1999, one of Jarrett’s clients gave him $67,000, which he knew was proceeds from drug dealing. He then deposited the money into the bank, making it appear that the client had invested money with him and that this money was interest earned on the investment. He did the same thing for another client, according to testimony, and received about $19,000 total for laundering the money.
He was charged in 2003 and convicted in 2004, but his sentencing has been delayed numerous times by appeals and other motions. Judge Lee overturned the jury’s verdict, agreeing with Jarrett that federal attorneys had acted vindictively in prosecuting him. Jarrett claimed they showed no interest in going after him, even though they had evidence on him in 1999, until he represented Dr. Jong Hi Bek, a high-profile case in the region that saw the state charging Bek with murder in connection with two of his patients. The charges were dropped because of shaky evidence, however, and Jarrett argued that federal prosecutors went after him as payback.
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