More than two months after his arrest in Blaine County on a 6-year-old felony burglary warrant from California, former Ketchum official Gary Rapport remains incarcerated in the Blaine County Jail.
"It's shameful that he's sat in jail for two months over this matter," public defender Kevin Cassidy said at a status hearing on the case Thursday in Blaine County Magistrate Court. "This is ridiculous."
Cassidy's statement was one of the last he made as Rapport's legal counsel. At Rapport's request to Judge Mark Ingram, Cassidy was removed from the case later in the hearing. It has now been assigned to public defender Christopher Simms.
"With all due respect to Mr. Cassidy, I understand he's been very busy but I think he's been unable to provide me with adequate counsel," Rapport told Ingram via video link with the new Blaine County Jail.
"Prior to being incarcerated, I was a respected city official in Ketchum," Rapport said. "And now I've been almost abandoned by my attorney."
Rapport was referring to the job he formerly held as executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corp. He resigned from the post on July 8 and was arrested later that day by Ketchum police on the California warrant. He was ordered extradited during a hearing before Ingram on July 17 but has remained in Blaine County custody since then.
Rapport is charged in Orange County, Calif., with felony burglary for allegedly stealing money in 1997 from his former employer, Leisure World Market in Seal Beach. An arrest warrant was issued in 2002 when Rapport allegedly failed to appear for a court hearing on the charge.
Ingram said extradition from one state to another sometimes take several months, but he urged Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback to see if the matter can be expedited, and scheduled another status hearing for Sept. 25.
"This is an unfortunate process," Ingram said. "Mr. Rapport deserves better clarity with regards to where he's going."
Fredback explained that "there's a lot red tape between California and Idaho to get this going."
Regarding his public defender, Rapport said Cassidy had repeatedly failed to return telephone calls.
"If he's called me I haven't got the message or I would have called him back," Cassidy said following the hearing.
"If he's not happy with me, I don't have a problem with him having another attorney," he said. "It doesn't hurt my feelings. This happens all the time, that clients request another attorney.
"I can't help him with anything that's happening in California."
Rapport's wife, Yanti Ibrahim, also attended the hearing. She said later that she is no longer living in Ketchum but declined to say where she is now staying.
"I'm doing very well," she said. "I want them to come and pick him up. I want to get this settled."
She said she is pleased that Rapport will have a new attorney.
"If the public defender is doing nothing, taking money and doing nothing, that is like a scam," she said.
Gary Rapport
