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Hearing set for Joplin businessman Hall

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Attorneys continue to file motions in a fraud case involving Joplin businessman Gary Hall and seven current and former employees.

A 43-count grand jury indictment was filed Oct. 17 in the U.S. District Court for Kansas in Wichita accusing Hall, 66, and his associates of defrauding the state of Oklahoma and American Indian tribes of $25 million in tax revenue.

According to court records, a status conference and motions hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5 before District Judge Monti L. Belot in the U.S. District Court for Kansas in Wichita.

Background

Hall is the president and owner of Galena, Kan.-based Sunflower Supply Co. Inc. The company was named as a defendant along with two other firms owned by Hall: Discount Tobacco Warehouse Inc. and Rebel Industries Inc.

Seven of Hall's employees also are charged. The employees named in the indictment are Thomas Anthony Grantham, 50, of Joplin; Keith Dion Noe, 42, of Joplin; Justin Boyes, 32, of Galena, Kan.; Danny Ray Davis, 62, of Galena, Kan.; Jeremy Wayne Hooker, 33, of Salina, Okla.; James William Coble, 35, of Galena, Kan.; and Justice Michael Berry, 36, of Joplin.

According to the indictment, Oklahoma requires every pack of cigarettes to carry a tax stamp. In Oklahoma, the tax varies from about 6 cents a pack up to $1.03 a pack depending on where the cigarettes are sold.

The indictment alleges that Hall and the other defendants conspired to defraud Oklahoma and the tribes that share its cigarette tax stamp revenue by selling cigarettes stamped to be sold in lower tax rate areas in smoke shops in higher tax areas.

The government is seeking money from Hall and the other defendants as well as a Hawker Beechcraft Model 4000 jet owned by another of Hall's companies, a 2006 BMW auto, a 2007 Chevrolet van, and real estate in Joplin, Galena, and Las Vegas, Nev.

Hall is represented by Wichita, Kan., attorney Daniel Monnat.

New developments

The judge agreed Dec. 2 to a joint motion filed by attorneys for Hall and the prosecutor allowing Hall to substitute $52,000 for the 2006 BMW seized on Oct. 17.

Court documents show that Joplin businessman Steve Vogel, who was Hall's partner in a failed effort to attract a destination casino to Cherokee County, Kan., uses the vehicle.

Attorneys for Hall and the prosecutor also asked the court to substitute $25,277 for the 2007 Chevrolet Utilimaster Van seized from Rebel Industries Inc.

On Nov. 19, the prosecutor filed a motion alleging a joint defense agreement among the defendants existed and said such an arrangement threatened each defendant's individual constitutional rights to adequate counsel. Some attorneys in the case represent more than one defendant.

The defense attorneys on Dec. 4 and 5 filed motions rejecting the prosecutor's claims that such an arrangement would harm their clients. Sharing information, they said, would help the defense.[[In-content Ad]]

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