Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-05
|Du Pre- Linked
|To6DeaIs on
Maryland Land
Two Turn States
Witnesses at Trial
In Roads Fraud
BY CHARLES L. HOFFMAN

BY CHARLES L. HOFFMAN
Montgomery County States
Attorney Alger Y. Barbee today
told a Circuit Court jury he
would show that Ben Du Pre- re-
Iceived financial rewards for his
part in the alleged conspiracy to
Idefraud the State Roads Com
mission in land transactions.
Mr.. Barbee made the asser-
Jon in his opening statement to
the jury Of nine men and three
women hearing the trial of Con-
Istas Gus Basiliko and Max Of
fenberg, indicted on two counts
lof conspiracy.
Two others named in the in
dictment. Jerry Goldberg and
Robert j. Rosenfeld. were freed
today and turned States wit
nesses as the trial opened in
Rockville.
Lists Six Transactions
Mr.. Barbee in his opening
statement listed six separate
transactions in which he said
Du Pre-, former Roads Commits
sion right-of-way engineer. par
ticipated and in which either
Mr.. Gutenberg or Mr.. Basiliko
were involved.
In the first transaction, near
Clarksburg. in the path of the
new national pike, the profits
in the manipulations were not
enough to warrant a return for
Du Pre-, Mr.. Barbee said.
He told the jury, however. Of
two cases in which he said Gus
Basiliko split a commission with
IDu Pre- which the former had
received from Gutenberg. In two
other cases, he said. DuPre had
been promised an interest in q
filling station being developed
near Frederick ON Route 40 and
an interest in an Oil we'll being
developed in Indiana by Mr..
Gutenberg.
Mccain Is First Witness
| Mr.. Barbee also told the jury
that these "manipulations
cost the State of Maryland
thousands of dollars"
Chairman Russell H. Mccain
Of the State Roads Commission
was the first State witness. H.
was to be followed after a recess
by Thornton w. Murray, a spe-
cial attorney with the roads
commission who handled inyes-
legations of alleged speculation
along the path of the new ma
tional pike.
Mr.. Barbee told the court that
Mr.. Goldberg and Mr.. Rosenfeld
had testified before the grand
jury and that they had not ex-
Ipected to be indicted. He said
further investigation of the case
convinced him that they were
not guilty of the conspiracy
charges. Once freed, they were
ordered to remain available as
witnesses for the State.
The trial is being held before
Circuit Court Judges Thomas M
Anderson and Katheryn J. Law
lor at Rockville.
Attorneys spent nearly an
hour selecting a jury.
A number of Roads Commits
sion employees and witnesses who
appeared at a State Roads hear
ing on the suspension of DuPre
were in the court.
Fired by Commission
DuPre was fired by the Roads
Commission after it was re-
vealed he had had personal land
dealings with the Gus Basiliko,
with whom he had also dealt in
rights-of-way acquisitions in his
official capacity. He was miss
ling from the courtroom as the
trial began.
DuPre. who repeatedly fled to
Mexico last fall. was named in
the same Indictment with Often
berg and Basiliko.
Du Pre- also was named in a
second indictment along with
Gus Basiliko, George Basiliko
and John B. Hudson, a relative
by marriage of the Basiliko
brothers.
I No date has been set for trial
under the second indictment be-
cause George Basiliko is still
lighting extradition from the Dis
ltrict