Former judge indicted on extortion charges

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. -- A former Schererville judge was indicted Friday on extortion charges alleging that she pocketed more than $30,000 in fees she ordered paid to a counseling service she owned.\nThe federal grand jury that indicted former Schererville tax court judge Deborah A. Riga said her court dispensed fraud and extortion, rather than justice.\nHundreds of minor offenders who appeared in Riga's court to receive counseling for traffic and substance abuse violations were in fact being shaken down, U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen said Friday.\nVan Bokkelen, Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter and Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said a task force of state police and FBI agents discovered evidence Riga pocketed more than $30,000 in traffic school and counseling fees.\nShe allegedly ordered the fees paid to a counseling service she owned, violating state law and canons of judicial ethics.\nA 20-page indictment alleges Riga also extorted $2,000 from Nancy Fromm, president of Addiction and Family Care.\nFromm told investigators Riga would have canceled Addiction and Family Care's lucrative contract to provide counseling to other town court defendants if she hadn't paid the bribes.\nAlso indicted Friday was James H. Fife, who faces four counts of tax fraud for hiding income that would have resulted in the payment of $325,000 in taxes.\nVan Bokkelen said Fife hid his income from East Chicago to avoid paying those taxes. His wife Karen H. Krahn has been indicted on two counts of tax fraud.