The Untouchables

Anne Stanton - September 7th, 2006

There’s a saying that the “best revenge is success.” It’s likely the philosophy of John Jarema who rode an extremely bumpy road to the seat of prosecutor for Charlevoix County. But now that he’s there, he has wasted no time tackling some extremely tough cases in Northern Michigan.
And he’s winning. Jarema, who has the good looks of a Kennedy, isn’t afraid of hard work and gets visibly excited talking about the cases he scored. The first year in office, he handled the trial of David Goldstick, who shot the elderly leader of the Charlevoix VFW post. The jury delivered a verdict in 49 minutes flat for first-degree, premeditated murder.
Crime is the natural province of a prosecutor, but Jarema (pronounced Jareema) and his staff have tackled cases involving mind-bending finances. In the recent investigation of China One restaurants, for example, he decided on a rarely-used Michigan racketeering law to pursue this case of tax evasion over four counties and involving hundreds of thousands of dollars and virtual slavery of employees.
Jarema gives credits to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Shaynee Fanara and Assistant Prosecutor Mark Muniak, who are not afraid to take on complicated cases.
“I put the time into cases like I would expect if I were the victim,” said Jarema, who worked construction and summers as a busboy/host at Boyne Mountain to put himself through college.
Sheriff George Lasatar said that Jarema, like most public officials, is as good as the people he surrounds himself with -- and his staff is excellent. “I feel Shaynee, on a scale of one to 10, is a 10 plus. And Mark is solid, with down-to earth common sense.”

TOUGH ROAD
Jarema almost didn’t get to this position of power. His problems with former prosecutor Mary Beth Kur are legendary. He signed on as her assistant prosecutor in 1995 and became her chief assistant prosecutor in 1999. But over time, he questioned her work ethic. He felt that many of those in her office weren’t working full days and began recording the offending employees’ actual hours. She confiscated his notes just before firing him in February of 2002. She defended the move, saying that his attacks on her were destroying the morale of the office,
He filed a whistleblower’s lawsuit against the county, which resulted in a judgment before the case went to trial. The county agreed to a stipulated judgment against itself and a $50,000 payment to Jarema. Kur said she didn’t support the decision to settle, which she said was pushed by the county’s insurance company.
Vindicated, Jarema decided to run against Kur for the position of prosecutor in 2004. He narrowly won the primary in August, and had no real contest against a Green party candidate in the November election.
Kur, knowing that Jarema would replace her, left him a good-bye gift. Her budget for the next year proposed a $63,000 salary, about $20,000 less than what she was earning. She also proposed big reductions for his support staff: $40,000 for the position of chief assistant prosecutor, down from $56,100, and $32,000 for the assistant prosecutors’ salaries, an $8,000 cut.
Five of the six commissioners, who openly endorsed and campaigned for Kur, approved the $63,000 salary. Fortunately, Jarema and his supporters persuaded the commissioners to raise his salary to $74,000.
“Sour grapes would describe the situation and I am still digging out of the hole. It was a mess,” he said, referring to other problems with a notebook computer and missing legal books. “On a side note, three of the six commissioners were just defeated so I will have a new board to work with.  It should be better.”
And it has been better, with Jarema and his staff focusing on some pretty tough cases. Here are a few of his team’s greatest hits:
READ MORE: http://www.northernexpress.com/michigan/article-2127-the-untouchables.html