HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
TAKAAKI IWABU/THE NEWS & OBSERVER
ANGER MANAGEMENT
that something was going to
happen with the feds so we settled the lawsuit.”
LaRoque dropped the defamation case last November — after he’d been subpoenaed in the
federal investigation — and paid
$17,250 in contempt fines.
Whether it was his foray into an
Internet comment section or his
lawsuit against an already-defeated opponent that led to LaRoque’s
downfall, there’s no question that
his willingness to jump into battle
also played a role.
“He’s just a different person,”
said Braxton, when asked why
LaRoque is so combative in court
and online. Braxton said he grew
up in Kinston but only knew LaRoque from the campaign. “I think
he’s got strong convictions and
he’s willing to go out of the norm
and defend his positions and himself. It’s probably an attribute
most politicians and elected officials would not do.”
It turned out the defamation
case and Ovaska’s investigation
uncovered only part of the story.
For a decade, the indictment
alleges, LaRoque overpaid himself
from his non-profits and stole
federal loan money to, essentially, go shopping.
According to the indictment,
in 2005, LaRoque used taxpayer
dollars to buy himself a new Toyota Avalon for $37,729. In 2007,
he did it again to buy a slightly
used Toyota Tacoma for $21,958.
A week before his wife’s birthday in February 2008, he spent
nearly $10,000 on jewelry, including two Faberge-style eggs.
In December 2008, LaRoque allegedly used company money to
buy more than $15,000 worth
of Faberge-like eggs and Faberge
egg-themed jewelry, including a
necklace and earrings.
The jewelry was allegedly for
LaRoque’s wife, Susan, whom the
indictment suggests LaRoque met
through his business. In 2001, the
ECDC lent $150,000 to a company
called Susan’s Carpet and Interiors, which Susan Eatman owned,
at a lower interest rate than other
LaRoque,
right, with his
attorney at
his first court
appearance
on August
6, 2012.
LaRoque
could face
80 years in
prison.