Jury trial set for Dr. Kimmel

14-Dec-07 – Former dentist and Marina City resident Gary S. Kimmel is awaiting trial scheduled for February 11 at 10:30 a.m.

Kimmel was indicted in January 2006 on a federal charge of money laundering linked to a nationwide prostitution ring. It is believed he allowed prostitutes and a pimp known as “Blue Diamond” to use condominium units he owned at Marina City. He’s also accused of accepting about $405,000 from two pimps to purchase vehicles for the ring.

Kimmel pleaded not guilty on January 26, 2006, and was released on $100,000 bail. His lawyer, Joseph Lopez, told the Chicago Tribune that if prostitution went on in Kimmel’s condominium units, “it was without his knowledge, his consent, and it was going on behind his back.”

(Left) Attorney Joseph Lopez represented Frank Calabrese Sr. in the Chicago “Family Secrets” Mob Trial. Lopez writes for a column on the web site The Chicago Syndicate.

Property seized from Kimmel includes nine condo units at Marina City. If convicted, the money laundering charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine that could reach $810,000. A charge of interstate transportation of unlawful proceeds has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The judge is Blanch M. Manning, age 73, who was appointed in 1994. In 1987, she became the first African-American woman appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court.

In 1999, she sentenced two former executives of Archer Daniels Midland, convicted in a price-fixing scheme, to two years in prison – but ordered fines of $350,000 each, which was far less than the $25 million sought by the government.

In June 2006, Illinois regulators suspended indefinitely Kimmel’s dentist license. He was fined $50,000 for, among other violations, providing dental services to the prostitutes, one of whom was 17 years old according to federal agents.

Kimmel’s next court date is a status hearing on January 22 at 11:00 a.m.

Kimmel had been a dentist since the 1980s and started his own practice in 2002, located at 233 East Erie, Suite 406.

The photo above of the mixed-use building appears on the web site of the leasing agent, Chicago Future, Inc.

As of December 19, Kimmel’s name was still on the building directory in the lobby. Suite 406 is occupied by East Erie Dental Associates PC, with Kimmel’s name on the front door along with two other names. The building is across the street from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.