Ex-Indiana player Leary accused of stealing appliances

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Indiana University basketball player Todd Leary, who is facing up to three years in prison for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme, appeared in court in Noblesville on Thursday on charges that he stole appliances from foreclosed homes.

A Hamilton County judge entered a not guilty plea for the 39-year-old Leary on burglary and theft charges, said Jeff Wehmueller, administrative chief deputy prosecutor. Leary, who lives in the affluent northern Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, told the judge he would hire his own attorney. He was still being held on $25,000 bond after the hearing.

An attorney who represented Leary in the mortgage fraud case did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Leary was arrested Wednesday following a five-month investigation.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Leary paid two other men to move refrigerators and other appliances out of foreclosed homes and then sold them to an Indianapolis appliance store. When investigators questioned Leary, he allegedly told them that he worked for a company that bought, repaired and then resold foreclosed homes. Leary told police that he picked the homes off an auction listing on the Hamilton County sheriff's website. But the sheriff's department denied ever selling any homes to any such company or to Leary, and the homes that were burglarized were tracked to other owners.

Leary pleaded guilty in July to a felony charge of misappropriating title insurance escrow funds from a Fort Wayne company. His agreement with Allen County prosecutors calls for him to face up to three years in prison, with that cut in half if he pays nearly $295,000 in restitution before his October sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said Leary worked for a title insurance broker who pleaded guilty in a $2.7 million fraud case.

Leary played for Indiana University from 1989-94, including on its 1992 NCAA Final Four team. He averaged 5.0 points over his four seasons playing for Bob Knight, with his best year as a senior in 1993-94 when he averaged 8.3 points and started 12 games. He started doing IU's radio broadcasts in the 2001-02 season.

Leary was arrested on the earlier charges at Assembly Hall in Bloomington in February just minutes before he was scheduled to work as an analyst for a men's basketball game between in-state rivals Indiana and Purdue.