Carl Smith Sentenced to 15 Years

SMITH, KEARNEY, DECATUR

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 11/22/2015 at 16:34:47

The Carroll Daily Times Herald
May 9, 1958; p12

15 YEARS FOR
EXTORTION AND TRY AT FRAUD

DES MOINES - Carl Smith of Grinnell, was held Friday for transfer to a federal penitentiary where he was sentenced to serve 15 years for attempted extortion and mail fraud.

A jury is U.S. District Court convicted the Newton factory worker late Thursday of sending threatening letters to two Grinnell families in an effort to extort $5,000.

Attired in blue trousers and a blue jacket over white shirt and tie, Smith leaned back in a swivel chair and drummed his fingers on the defense table as he listened to the jury verdict returned after 3-1/2 hours deliberation.

'HEINOUS CRIME'

Federal Judge Edwin R. Hicklin ordered the defendant to rise and said he stood convicted "of one of the most heinous crimes you could possibly have committed."

The jury found that he tried to obtain $3,000 from Wilfred C. Kearney, 58, a motel operator and $2,000 from Mrs. Herbert Decatur, a Grinnell widow.

The jurors did not accept Smith's defense that a man identified only as Ted Johnson forced him at gunpoint to write the extortion letters to Kearney and Mrs. Decatur and which government attorneys said was a "made up" story.

"It doesn't do any good to lecture you, I know that. You have stood before the jury and lied to them barefacedly. I can't imagine a worse offense than that."

FAMILY PRESENT

Smith's son and daughter were in the courtroom when sentence was pronounced. His wife, Velma, waited for the verdict in a nearby room and sobbed as Smith was led away by U.S. marshals.

Smith was sentenced on four counts carrying a possible maximum sentence of 32 years but Judge Hicklin made the terms to run concurrently for a total of 15 years.

The jail sentence was on the extortion charges and Smith was placed on five years probation for mail fraud.

The defendant was arrested by FBI agents and local authorities at Grinnell Feb. 19 after he picked up a decoy envelope placed in a mailbox in response to a letter to Mrs. Decatur.