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Former Evergreen executive to be in court on 69 charges
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Nov 17, 2008
It will be sister against brother in the first phase of the Summit County trial of former Evergreen Corp. President David B. Willan.
Jury selection begins today in Common Pleas Court before retired Judge James E. Murphy, who is handling the case by appointment.
Willan, 38, and 16 co-defendants originally were charged in December in a 147-count indictment alleging widespread mortgage and securities fraud in the Akron area.
But at the government's request, Murphy streamlined the case, eliminating the charges against the co-defendants from this portion of the trial to shorten it and make it easier for the jury to sort everything out.
Willan alone will face 69 charges — from about half of the indictment — covering alleged illegalities in his dealings with various financial institutions and false representation in registering securities.
His sister, Sandra Langer, 52, originally was charged with more than 20 felonies for her work in Willan's Evergreen companies. But most of those charges were dismissed or amended, and she pleaded guilty on July 23 to three lower-level felonies.
Two counts were for being an unlicensed securities dealer. One was for
securities fraud.
Langer was sentenced to prison for two years, but Murphy suspended the sentence and gave her 24 months of probation under the condition that she cooperates and testifies truthfully in all future Evergreen proceedings.
The prosecutors, lead counsel Brad L. Tammaro from the special prosecution unit of the Ohio Attorney General's Office and Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Colleen Sims, have subpoenaed Langer to testify. She is expected to take the stand later this week.
So how does the defense plan to overcome the sister-against- brother testimony?
''They use the word 'against' him,'' Willan's lawyer, William T. Whitaker, said of the prosecution's strategy. ''If they actually have her testify, I think her testimony will be helpful to David.
''She's going to say: 'We didn't do anything wrong. We tried to follow the laws. We hired good lawyers to help us.' I mean, those securities laws — have you ever looked at them?' ''
The complexities of the laws notwithstanding, Whitaker said Langer never agreed to testify against her brother.
''She agreed to testify truthfully,'' Whitaker said.
Five other co-defendants also have pleaded guilty to various offenses in the case, including Daniel A. Mohler, Willan's former investment sales manager.
Mohler pleaded guilty in April to securities fraud and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities. He also has been subpoenaed to testify under the same conditions as those in Langer's plea.
Murphy has scheduled four weeks for the trial.
One of the first expected courtroom battles will be a defense attempt to move the trial out of Summit County. Whitaker contends there has been excessive pretrial publicity about the Willan case in particular and the nation's home mortgage crisis in general.
In juror questioning, Whitaker said he intends to ask ''whether all of this information in the newspapers on the subprime and mortgage problems have affected their abilities to sit as jurors.''
''People are upset about what's happened in the mortgage industry, and we've got to make sure that doesn't bleed over into the jury box,'' he said.
Whitaker acknowledged that a change of venue rarely happens, ''but rarely have we had a recent issue get as much publicity as this.''
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
It will be sister against brother in the first phase of the Summit County trial of former Evergreen Corp. President David B. Willan.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 10:16 AM, 11/17/2008
Wanna bet they lose this case like they dropped the charges against the murderers last week?
akron, oh
Posted 01:08 PM, 11/17/2008
OOOH - sister against brother!!! I wonder whose home thanksgiving is at this year.
Posted 02:04 PM, 11/17/2008
They should lose the case. It's amazing that our law enforcement targeted Evergreen because they were making too much money. If you make too much money in this City and you're not part of "the club", you're gonna be targeted.
This investigation has cost the taxpayers a million plus dollars AND there has easily been millions of lost dollars generated in Akron by putting Evergreen out of business. Evergreen was building and renovating homes ALL OVER the city and employing alot of people ... now, all the production is gone and all the jobs are gone!!!!!!!
Way to go Summit County Sheriff, way to go Ohio AG, way to go Prosecutor!!!! Way to keep the economy moving.
No wonder why Ohio is getting driven into the ground!!!!!
barberton, oh
Posted 02:59 PM, 11/17/2008
I don't have to say a word. Mike said it all and hit the nail right on the header. I hauled a lot of concrete to his houses all over town. But when I started seeing guys I know from Canton doing the work instead of guys from here that I know, something was getting shaky and it shook right into Court. Cut the Guy loose and be done with it.
Posted 03:29 PM, 11/17/2008
I wish our law enforcement was out there targeting the real criminals ... there is sooooooo much crime in Akron ... burglaries, drugs, assaults, murder etc. etc. and it's getting sooooooo much worse ... ask ANY woman who has to walk to her car at night or is home alone ... there is alot of fear in this city ... so what does our lovely law enforcement do? they target Evergreen, spend millons of taxpayer dollars, thousands and thousands of man hours on investigating, and put people out of work!!!!!! ... and that doesn't even include the hearing that just began ... how much more money is that gonna cost??????
Come on you guys quit going for sensational-attention-grabbing headlines and go get the violent criminals out there. You guys are running on a tight budget (so you say) ... so why don't you spend OUR money wisely? .... please!!!!!!
Posted 04:40 PM, 11/17/2008
Government officials on any level spend money "wisely"? Ha! like that will EVER happen!!
Posted 05:53 PM, 11/17/2008
Hey Brett ... intelligent comment ... would you care to share your views or do you just go around and call people idiots? LMAO!
Posted 07:59 PM, 11/17/2008
quilty
Posted 08:00 PM, 11/17/2008
guilty guilty
Posted 12:37 AM, 11/18/2008
Hey Tim! You are an "investor" are ya? That usually means someone who got into real estate thinking it was sit back and collect the rents and get rich but when you found out that it's very hard work, you went belly-up and now you want to blame someone for your problems and failures ... just like all the people complaining about their ARM's. You say " ... people could not refinance when they got in trouble ..." Well Tim, why would you get in trouble anyway and why would refinancing be the solution to your trouble???? LMAO! YOU sound like the idiot!
Also, Tim (I mean Idiot) I know investors who bought off Dave ... were the deals great? No, but it got their feet wet and enabled them to start investing on their own (meaning buying first and rehabbing themselves instead of buying turn-key from Willan).
You say "twice their value" ... are you an appraiser too????
You say "it was a pyramid scheme" LMAO you ignorant moron!!!! Of course everything crumpled when the financing stopped .... you stupid F'n idiot ... it's the same thing happening to GM, Chrysler, Ford, and many many many small business's across the country ... NO ACCESS TO CREDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU IDIOT!!!!! And also, don't you think ANY business would crumble when the long arm of the law comes in a seizes files and freezes bank accounts and shuts down operations?
I like how you use a nice catchy term that denotes negativity though ... PYRAMID SCHEME ... LOL!
Stow, OH
Posted 12:25 PM, 11/18/2008
Yes Mike ,I am an investor ,and I know a little about real estate since I own several parcels in this town and outside of Akron .And when I see a house that is worth $ 45,000 sell for $100,000 I know something isn't right . Go back to your drywall job and leave the investing to people who know what they are doing .
Posted 02:15 PM, 11/18/2008
Hey Tim!
Read my post again and let it sink in ...
Please state which property was worth 45k and sold for 100k ... tell me the address please. Did you see it? Do you know the repairs that were done? Do you know if there was a desk or field review by the lender? Do you know if the appraised value was within the lender's variance?
From your response, I'll assume you are not an appraiser.
Also, I've addressed all your outlandish accusations ... especially your Pyramid Scheme accusation ... do you not comprehend why Evergreen ceased operations now? You can't be that stupid ... it's impossible.
