Reluctant grand jury witness freed on bail in theft case

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Reluctant grand jury witness Lisa-Katharine Otsuka surrendered to authorities yesterday following her indictment this week on theft and forgery charges.

Otsuka, 32, was released on $45,000 bail and will plead innocent when she is arraigned on Thursday, her attorneys said.

She has refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign finances and the awarding of city contracts.

Otsuka was indicted Tuesday for allegedly stealing about $12,000 from a car repair business where she worked as a bookkeeper in 1999.

She is also awaiting trial for allegedly stealing $3,000 from a dance group last year, and was arrested in August on suspicion of money laundering, promoting prostitution and illegally operating a business.

Otsuka is an associate of Harry Mattson, a consultant who worked for Harris' 2000 re-election campaign. She would not say if she had done bookkeeping for Mattson.

Harris' top political fund-raiser, a campaign pollster and a police officer who knows Otsuka appeared before the grand jury on Thursday.

Otsuka's attorneys, who say they believe that prosecutors have dredged up old cases to pressure her to cooperate in the Harris case, say she has no information about the Harris campaign.

"It's kind of a wild goose chase on the part of the prosecutors, figuring if they fish far enough maybe they'll get something out of her," attorney Paul Cunney said. "But if you don't know anything, you can't really give it up."

He said her bail, which now totals $95,000, is unusually high and that he will attempt to have it reduced. Otsuka said her legal troubles had forced her to sell "everything I had" and made it impossible for her and a fiance to purchase a home they had been living in.

"The community and my family and friends have been such a wonderful support, and I appreciate it," she said.