By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LaShawn Pettus-Brown spent thousands of dollars in taxpayers' money on a rap concert in Australia, airline travel to Tokyo, new Nike shoes, hotel rooms at the Hilton and dinner at the Maisonette, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The accusations against Pettus-Brown are part of a grand jury investigation that will determine whether the would-be developer should be indicted on criminal charges in connection with the collapse of the Empire Theater project in Over-the-Rhine.

Prosecutors discussed several of the accusations at a court hearing Tuesday when they argued that Pettus-Brown should remain in jail without bond until the grand jury completes its work.

The hearing provided the first hint at how Pettus-Brown may have spent at least some of the money he was supposed to have invested in the theater project.

Pettus-Brown's lawyer, Kenneth Lawson, said his client did nothing wrong and should be freed from jail. He said mismanagement by Cincinnati city officials was the real reason the theater project collapsed.

But U.S. Magistrate David Perelman said Pettus-Brown could not be absolved of wrongdoing, even if the city did make foolish mistakes.

"Is the city administration run by a bunch of fools? I don't know," Perelman said. "That's irrelevant. The fact that you stick it to a dummy doesn't mean that you haven't stuck it to him.

"It's easier to defraud a dummy than a smart person."

Perelman, who ordered Pettus-Brown held without bond, also rejected Lawson's argument that his client may not have known the FBI had issued a warrant for his arrest in May 2003.

Perelman said a taped message Pettus-Brown left on the voice mail of Assistant U.S. Attorney Amul Thapar proves he knew he was a wanted man. On the tape, recorded after the warrant was issued, Pettus-Brown promises to turn himself in but says he has been delayed by a serious injury he suffered playing basketball.

"I plan on fully coming back ... to get this matter rectified," Pettus-Brown said on the tape. Authorities did not hear from him again for another year, until his arrest in New York last month.

"Apparently," Perelman said after hearing the tape, "he forgot where Cincinnati is located."

Lawson also suggested that the money spent on the rap concert in Australia may have been intended to book acts that would one day play the rehabilitated Empire Theater, which Pettus-Brown had touted as a nightclub and concert venue.

Perelman shot down that argument as well, saying the money was supposed to have been spent on repairing the theater. "Booking a concert before the theater exists is a prime example of putting the cart before the horse," he said.

Although the magistrate said the case might raise questions about the performance of city officials, prosecutors gave no indication Tuesday that the grand jury investigation had focused on anyone other than Pettus-Brown.

City officials have acknowledged making mistakes on the project, which involved giving Pettus-Brown, a 27-year-old novice developer, nearly $200,000 to rehabilitate the theater on Vine Street.

The FBI has said at least $93,000 is missing.

"From an administrative point of view, this was very poorly handled," Mayor Charlie Luken said Tuesday. "(City Council) approved the concept of the Empire Theater. The implementation of it was a disaster by staff."

Authorities have been investigating the scandal for months, and Perelman said Tuesday he expects indictments against Pettus-Brown to be issued soon.

Thapar's questioning of an FBI agent during the hearing indicated that several charges were possible, including money laundering, theft and wire fraud.

The hearing also revealed for the first time some details about Pettus-Brown's life on the run. FBI agent Matthew Drake testified that Pettus-Brown had been dating two women, one in California and one in New York, while he was a fugitive.

They proved his undoing when both women did a Google Internet search of his name and learned he was wanted by the FBI. A tip from one of them led to his arrest last month at a restaurant in New York.

Drake said he called Pettus-Brown's cell phone early in his search for the fugitive, and a man he believes was Pettus-Brown picked up. "LaShawn is upstairs," the man said. "This is Eric Smith."

And although he was a fugitive, Drake said, Pettus-Brown took care of at least one problem he had with the law last year: He paid a traffic ticket in Cincinnati.