LaBrake doesn't bend on the stand

As he is cross-examined, Tampa's former housing director says he didn't do anything improper.

By GRAHAM BRINK
Published November 19, 2004

TAMPA - Federal prosecutor Robert O'Neill got his first chance to cross-examine Steve LaBrake Thursday about allegations that LaBrake took bribes in return for lucrative city home-building contracts.

O'Neill wasted no time trying to establish that Tampa's former housing director was in dire financial straits in 2000 and 2001 and needed the bribes to pay for a 4,200-square-foot luxury home he and his then-girlfriend were building.

LaBrake was going through an expensive divorce. He was living in another home he was building, even though it had no utilities, electricity or air conditioning. Sometimes he slept in his car or at work. He was paying four mortgages, two on a Davis Islands home and two on a Morrison Avenue home where his estranged wife lived. LaBrake had tapped dry his retirement funds.

LaBrake, though, would not give in to O'Neill's questions. He repeatedly said that while his life was in chaos, his financial situation wasn't that bleak. He was earning about $106,000 a year from the city. He conceded that his personal accounting was poor.

"I can barely keep a checkbook, to be honest," LaBrake told the jurors.

The cross-examination came in the third week of a public corruption trial in which LaBrake is the central figure. He is accused of accepting free or discounted work on homes he built in return for steering millions of dollars in U.S. Housing and Urban Development contracts to the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan and Ryan Construction.

LaBrake; his second wife, Lynne LaBrake; THAP's former chief, Chester Luney; and a loan officer from the University of South Florida credit union are accused of conspiracy and wire fraud. The LaBrakes and Luney also are accused of accepting bribes and gratuities related to the construction work and Mrs. LaBrake's lucrative business that provided gift baskets to new low-income homeowners.

THAP is a nonprofit that provides medical and housing services to the poor, and it dealt often with LaBrake's office on major contracts when he was city housing director. On Wednesday, during questioning from his own attorney, LaBrake denied accepting any bribes. He said he and Lynne LaBrake paid the contractor in full for the luxury home.

And Luney and THAP bought the Toyota for what the bank said it was worth, he said. The nonprofit also paid for new tires that the LaBrakes had purchased a week earlier.

"There was nothing wrong with the deal," LaBrake said.

On Thursday, O'Neill peppered LaBrake with questions about whether Mrs. LaBrake benefited from the Toyota sale. It took five minutes of verbal give and take before LaBrake agreed that selling the vehicle was a benefit to Mrs. LaBrake.

So went much of the questioning. O'Neill would ask what seemed like a straightforward question. Minutes - and many more questions - would pass before LaBrake provided the answer.

At one point, it took nearly 10 minutes to establish who had paid Mrs. LaBrake's company for 100 gift baskets that were sent to a building company to hand out to low-income home buyers. LaBrake finally agreed that THAP picked up the tab for the baskets.

The two men also went around and around about the removal of an old house from the property where the luxury home was eventually built. LaBrake said he and Mrs. LaBrake donated it to THAP to place on a vacant lot. THAP paid about $22,000 for the removal. LaBrake said the home was worth about that much.

O'Neill, through his questioning, suggested that LaBrake had used his influence to get THAP to pay for the removal. LaBrake disagreed.

"It was a good house," LaBrake said.

O'Neill's cross-examination is expected to continue Monday. Today is a day off for jurors. The judge told them he expected that closing arguments would be finished by Tuesday, at which point they would begin deliberating.

Graham Brink can be reached at 813 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 18, 2004, 23:58:20]