Rogstad, Larkin Cleared In Alaska Bribery Trial

TACOMA - Two prominent Seattle businessmen yesterday were found not guilty of bribery and cover-up charges in an Alaska North Slope scandal, and a defense lawyer blasted prosecutors and the media for ruining their reputations.

Kenneth Rogstad and Wayne Larkin were acquitted on all counts involving charges they had taken part in a conspiracy to bribe Alaskan officials and consultants to obtain $199 million in construction and supply contracts between late 1981 and late 1984.

``I'm scarred. I'm poor. But I'm happy,'' said a beaming Rogstad after the verdict.

Rogstad is a former King County Republican chairman. Larkin, a former Seattle mayoral candidate and Seattle City Council member, did not return phone calls for comment.

The jury took 2 1/2 days to reach its verdict, but Marcus Topel, the San Francisco lawyer for Rogstad, said two jurors told him that it only took four hours for them to vote, 11 to 1, in favor of acquittal.

``It's shameful, this case is absolutely shameful, and the jury made short shrift of it,'' Topel said. ``If there was some way we could sue (prosecutors and federal agents), we would, but they have immunity.''

Topel charged that prosecutors were politically motivated to bring the charges, that agents were trying to build careers out of the case and that the media, particularly in Anchorage, ``tried and convicted them in the press.''

H.W. Blackstock Co. of Seattle was essentially run out of business by the 5 1/2-year investigation, Topel said.

The company's bank pulled its line of credit, and other companies were afraid to deal with it because of the investigation, he said.

Topel vowed to make the North Slope Borough pay the approximately $2 million that Blackstock says is still owed for construction services.

Jurors said they simply did not find enough evidence to convict.

``We all knew there was something shady going on,'' said Stacy Carter, one of the 12 jurors. ``But the government just didn't prove its case.''

Wevley Shea, U.S. attorney in Anchorage, Alaska, said he was disappointed in the verdict. But Shea praised the prosecutors and investigators for doing a good job.

``The jury has spoken and that's all there is to say,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler, who tried the case.

U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner dismissed pending tax charges against Rogstad after the verdict, at Loeffler's request.

Rogstad and Larkin would have faced as much as 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. The government also sought forfeiture of more than $2 million from Rogstad and $422,000 from Larkin under federal racketeering law.

Rogstad and Larkin were accused of paying more than $2.5 million in bribes and kickbacks to Alaska consultants Lewis Dischner and Carl Mathisen in exchange for help in securing business from the Inupiag Eskimo borough.

The Minnesota-sized borough, or county, embarked on a billion-dollar building boom financed with taxes on North Slope oil fields.

The government also alleged that the pair conspired with the two consultants to bribe former Mayor Eugene Brower, his former public-works chief, Irving Igtanloc, and others with $37,000 boats, groceries, jewelry and housing.

Dischner and Mathisen were convicted last year in Anchorage of bribery. Brower and Igtanloc pleaded guilty to tax charges and agreed to testify for the government.

In both the Anchorage and Tacoma trials, defense lawyers argued that payments to the consultants were legitimate business fees and that borough officials were supposed to pay for any goods and services received.