Matt Spillane

mspillane@lohud.com

A federal judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors can pin their fraud case against Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence on the Rockland Boulders baseball stadium.

St. Lawrence was in court in White Plains Thursday for a pre-trial conference during which U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel ruled on a number of motions. Among them, she said prosecutors will be allowed to argue at St. Lawrence's trial in April that he lied about public funds being used to build Provident Bank Park in Pomona, which prosecutors said was his motivation for doctoring town financial records to cover up the deception.

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St. Lawrence's attorney, Michael Burke, argued against that. He said some public money was used for parts of the project.

Seibel said she would allow the prosecutors' argument.

"I think it's relevant because it makes sense as a motive," she said.

St. Lawrence, the town's 16-year supervisor, faces charges of securities and wire fraud and conspiracy in an alleged corruption scheme involving financing the stadium through the Ramapo Local Development Corp. Jury selection for his trial is scheduled to begin on April 19.

The indictment accuses him of allegedly selling $150 million in municipal bonds based on fabricated town financial documents that overstated the town's revenues to potentially get a better interest rate on the loans.

The SEC case mirrors the federal charges, but the penalties are financial.

Seibel also said Thursday she would allow prosecutors to tell the jury about St. Lawrence instructing a contractor to lie to Ramapo about the town's need to reimburse the RLDC for $1 million in maintenance expenses, which actually ended up being used for stadium construction costs.

Burke did not deny that took place, but said it was not relevant to the charges.

"It shows the defendant's plan," prosecutor James McMahon said. "Why else would he do this?"



Lawyers and the judge did not finish their conference Thursday; they are scheduled to return to court Monday morning.

"The Ramapo and RLDC bonds were built on a foundation of fraud," then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at the time St. Lawrence was arrested along with former local official Aaron Troodler. "They did an end run around the voters and ensured no public funds would be used. They lied. There were other, more pressing needs than a shiny, new sports stadium."

St. Lawrence's defense may have gotten more complicated earlier this month when Troodler, pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges and agreed to testify for prosecutors in St. Lawrence's case. Troodler, a former deputy town attorney, also served as the LDC's executive director while St. Lawrence chaired the three-member board. He now lives in Pennsylvania.

The investigation by federal officials in conjunction with the Rockland District Attorney's Office became public in 2013 with a seizure of documents from Ramapo Town Hall. The U.S. Attorney's office brought an indictment last April charging St. Lawrence and Troodler criminally; the Securities and Exchange Commission bought additional civil charges against them and others in town government.

Prosecutors have estimated the trial could take four to five weeks.

St. Lawrence has been free on $500,000 bail since his arrest.