He once called 88 times in a two-hour period. He repeatedly drove past her house in his black BMW. He sent rambling emails and countless text messages.Former Indiana University radio commentator and basketball player Todd Leary appeared in Allen Superior Court on Tuesday morning for an initial hearing on 17 felony charges alleging he participated in a scheme to misappropriate title funds.
A clean-shaven Leary, 39, of Carmel, stood next to his Indianapolis-based attorney, Ginny Maxwell, in a dark suit with his hands in his pockets as Allen Superior Court Magistrate Robert Schmoll asked him whether he understood the charges.
Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tim McCaulay asked Schmoll to order Leary to surrender his passport while the case is pending. Schmoll granted the request.
Leary was arrested Thursday evening at IU’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington before the Hoosiers’ men’s basketball game against Purdue.
He was released from the Allen County Jail on Friday evening and remains free on a $60,000 bond.
Allen County prosecutors charged Leary with conspiracy in what they said was a scheme to misappropriate millions of dollars in title escrow funds.
Leary previously worked for Joseph Garretson, a Fort Wayne title insurance broker who pleaded guilty last week to conversion or misappropriation of title insurance escrow funds, corrupt business influence and unlawful loan origination activities.
Garretson is accused of arranging mortgage refinancing loans for area clients and failing to use the money to pay off the initial loans, causing mortgage holders to default.
Through his attorney, Garretson told investigators that Leary pressured him on numerous occasions for money, threatening to disclose Garretson’s financial misdeeds, according to court documents.
According to court documents, between March 11, 2008, and Feb. 12, 2009, more than $1 million in wire transfers went from a Fort Wayne Title bank account into a National City Bank account opened by Leary.
Between March 2008 and March 2009, Leary withdrew $690,000 from the account, according to court documents.
Maxwell asked that a special prosecutor be appointed in the case because Allen County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mike McAlexander is listed in court documents as someone who lost money to Garretson’s scheme.
Schmoll scheduled a hearing on Maxwell’s request for this month.
