Tampabay: McCabe rejects deal for help with corruption case

If they freed him by cutting four years off his prison term, Christopoulos said, he would help them build criminal cases against corrupt Tampa Bay area politicians with organized crime connections.

Two Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents say Christopoulos, serving a 51/2-year term, may have deep mob contacts.

And court records show they are eager to use information Christopoulos gives them to investigate his allegations.

So eager, in fact, that statewide prosecutors agreed to a plan to free him.

But last week, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe refused to cooperate, scuttling a promising public corruption investigation, Christopoulos' attorney says.

"The time to come forward with information is before you go to trial and get convicted," McCabe said in an interview, refusing to say whether he thinks Christopoulos is telling the truth.

In fact, McCabe said he does not know specifically what information, or names, Christopoulos has given to FDLE agents.

"I don't like to negotiate with people after they've already been convicted," he said. "He can provide all the information he wants from where he is."

Plus, McCabe said, a judge could not legally set Christopoulos free. A sentence can't be modified more than 60 days after it is imposed, and more than a year has passed in Christopoulos' case, McCabe said.

Still, a transcript of a hearing last week indicates a judge could have ordered Christopoulos released -- if prosecutors agreed.

Circuit Judge Nancy Ley told lawyers, "What you're asking me to do is to modify a sentence in a way that I don't have legal authority, but if everyone was in agreement with, in essence, I could do it because nobody would be objecting."

John Trevena, Christopoulos' attorney, said he hopes he can still make a deal for his client despite McCabe's opposition.

He said he might ask Gov. Jeb Bush for the appointment of a special prosecutor, though statewide prosecutors say they doubt that would occur.

An FDLE organized crime investigation is not usually a matter discussed in public. But last week, Trevena appeared before Ley to discuss the case.

The owner of the Black Angus Stockyard restaurant in Largo and two others in South Pasadena and Tampa, Christopoulos was sentenced to two years' house arrest in 1998 after pleading no contest to racketeering and other charges.

Christopoulos, 47, whose family describes him as a compulsive gambler, had failed to pay more than $400,000 to the state in sales tax his businesses generated.

Later, the St. Petersburg resident violated his house arrest and was sentenced by a Pinellas judge to prison in June 1999.

During last week's hearing, which was open to the public but attended by only Christopoulos' family, Trevena put FDLE agent Kenneth Chouinard on the stand and questioned him under oath about Christopoulos and information he provided to agents.

A transcript of that hearing, and Chouinard's testimony, make it clear investigators took Christopoulos' information seriously.

Chouinard and FDLE agent Ken Sands, an organized crime expert, have interviewed Christopoulos twice at the Pinellas County Jail.

Christopoulos named names for the agents, though none of the potential targets of an investigation were named in open court to Judge Ley.

"One is a Pinellas County official," Chouinard testified. "And there are other officials in Tampa that have been alluded to that are mixed up in probably some illegal activities."

Trevena asked him, "And those officials would include people employed by city and county government, including even circuit judges, licensing officials and things of that nature?"

"You could say that, yes, sir," the agent answered.

Chouinard said agents hadn't verified any corruption by the individuals named by Christopoulos. But he said his office wanted to investigate further.

In interviews with agents, Christopoulos had provided detailed information about Tampa Bay-area organized crime, enough to convince agents he knew what he was talking about, Chouinard testified.

"You intended, if Mr. Christopoulos were to be released, to conduct further investigation, including wiretaps, (controlled) phone calls, things of that nature -- would that be correct?" Trevena asked.

"Whatever it took to conduct intelligence investigations leading up to prosecutable cases, yes, sir," Chouinard said.

Trevena said all the officials targeted by his client are in Hillsborough, with one Pinellas exception he declined to name.

The statewide prosecutor's office in Tampa refused to say whom Christopoulos has named, and the FDLE did not return numerous calls for comment.

Christopoulos originally was convicted of charges filed by both statewide and Pinellas prosecutors, so both offices would have to agree to a deal.

The transcript of last week's hearing indicates statewide prosecutors were agreeable to freeing Christopoulos on five years' probation -- if McCabe's office agreed, too.

If information Christopoulos provided didn't result in an arrest within a year, he would be imprisoned again, Trevena and statewide prosecutors said at the hearing.

Asked about the hearing, statewide prosecutors insisted they had not worked out any deal with Christopoulos.

"Basically, any time a defendant or defense attorney approaches us and says they can assist us in an investigation, we listen," Chief Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Joe Larrinaga said. "We make no guarantees about what we can offer in return.

"If Mr. McCabe's office was not in agreement to allow this person to gain credit for helping, then the whole thing is moot anyway," Larrinaga said.

"I have no complaint against Mr. McCabe. They had a right to say, "no.' That's how the cookie crumbles sometimes."

But at the hearing, Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Lisa McLean indicated to the judge that statewide prosecutors had a deal with Christopoulos, telling Ley, "If Pinellas County were to agree . . . we would agree as well."

Though McLean indicated some reluctance in dealing with Christopoulos, she told the judge, "We certainly understand that FDLE has great motivation and a great desire to work with Mr. Christopoulos."

Trevena said statewide prosecutors wanted a deal from the beginning.

Larrinaga refused to say whether his office thinks Christopoulos' information is credible.

"We're always very skeptical and take these things with a grain of salt," he said. "Before we give them anything, we tell them, "Okay, prove it.' "

Christopoulos, however, isn't being given the opportunity to prove anything, Trevena said.

"If they let him out, he could do it," Trevena said. "They had nothing to lose. If they don't get an arrest, he's back in prison after a year."

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