CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. Attorney Stephanie Rose said her first year in office taught some valuable and at times, frustrating lessons, as she wrapped up some big cases — some which had been pending for years.
Rose was appointed as the first female U.S. Attorney in Iowa last November. But she didn’t have much of a “honeymoon” phase in her new role, taking some harsh criticism over one of the most publicized immigration cases the office has ever prosecuted.
Former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin, 50, of Postville, was convicted by a jury in 2009 of 86 bank fraud counts. He was sentenced last June to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $26 million in restitution. The charges stemmed from the 2008 immigration raid at the Postville meatpacking plant, where more than 400 illegal workers were arrested.
Rose said the Rubashkin case was frustrating for her because his conviction and wrongdoing were overshadowed by accusations of wrongful prosecution.
“The defense put out many facts that were not accurate and any attempt we made to tell the truth … it just didn’t help, so we stopped,” Rose said.
Rubashkin’s lawyers argued U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade unlawfully presided over his trial because she was involved in planning the immigration raid.
“The goal of this case was to prevent future crimes like this, as well as to punish Rubashkin,” Rose said. “This case was important for those that are taking advantage of and employing illegal immigrants but all of that got lost with this other stuff. We are hoping the appeal process will correct some of that.”
Another case that had been pending for a few years in the district involved a former Cedar Rapids landlord, Robert Miell. Miell, 56, was convicted in 2009 but wasn’t sentenced until last September. He received 20 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $728,000 in restitution.
Rose said Miell’s case was important because it affected many in the area.
Miell was at one time the largest landlord in Linn County. He pleaded guilty to 18 counts of mail fraud and two counts of perjury and was found guilty by a jury in January 2009 of two counts of tax fraud. The charges stemmed from fraudulent reports to American Family Insurance and a damage deposit scheme against tenants.
Rose said closing these time consuming, complicated cases allowed her assistants to get back to the more typical cases in the district, such as drug and gun crimes, child pornography, various frauds and bank robbery.
“There was a lot of rebalancing and growth for the office,” she said. “We were always operating in crisis mode because we weren’t fully staffed.”
In the last few years, some of the assistants have been on leave for several months at a time for military duty or for other special assignments with the Department of Justice. All are now back except for C.J. Williams, who will be gone for nine months on special assignment.
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