The state’s case in a trial of two New Lenox business owners ended Thursday after a Will County judge denied prosecutor’s request to present a witness, ruling he was not an expert.
The trial, which began Tuesday and continues Monday, involves charges of fraud against Jeffery Regnier, owner of Kee Firearms and Training, and Greta Keranen, of Kee Construction, that the Will County state’s attorney’s office first filed in 2023.
Will County prosecutors attempted to call Paul Yaras from the Illinois Department of Revenue to interpret the business owners’ 2023 tax returns, but Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak said he did not qualify as an expert in interpreting tax returns.
Prosecutors have said Yaras could describe the tax returns without being an expert and said it would help shed light on whether the business owners lied about their gross monthly profits and their ability to pay bills in loan applications to purchase motor vehicles.
Bertani-Tomczak ruled Monday the tax returns could only be used in a limited way after defense attorneys argued they did not receive the documents, which included hundreds of pages, until less than a week before the trial.
Prosecutors said in opening statements that Regnier initiated a claim that Kee Construction earned $400,000 a month on forms used to buy two Ford Broncos in 2023, and that Keranen as the company’s owner later reinforced that statement by signing the paperwork.
Regnier and Keranen are charged with forgery, and Keranen is also charged with loan fraud and wire fraud. The charges were dropped over the summer and refiled by the state in August.
The defense asked Bertani-Tomczak Thursday to dismiss the case, arguing the state did not prove its case and there was no need for a defense. Bertani-Tomczak will rule on that motion Monday.
Defense attorney Lawrence Beaumont said Keranen did not know about the gross monthly profit number stated on the loan documents, and said they were prepared by the auto shop and bank before she signed them.
Regnier said Thursday the prosecutors’ arguments cause concern for car buyers in Illinois.
“It’s insinuating in general that if the state doesn’t like somebody that purchases a car … they can arrest him for loan fraud and try to civil forfeit the car he just bought based on confidential documents that nobody’s ever looked at,” Regnier said. “If that’s allowed to happen, it can happen to anybody in the state of Illinois.”
Regnier said he and Keranen have bought more than 25 cars for their businesses and have paid them in full and never considered that this could happen.
If Bertani-Tomczak does not dismiss the case, the defendants will begin presenting their case Monday. The trial could pause for the rest of the week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and then continue the following week.
awright@chicagotribune.com
