Longtime Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta resigned from office shortly before pleading guilty Wednesday to federal bribery charges alleging he took an envelope stuffed with a cash bribe from a representative of a red-light camera company that does business in the town.
Presta, 71, pleaded guilty to one count each of using a facility in interstate commerce in aid of bribery and official misconduct and willfully filing a false income tax return. Preliminary sentencing guidelines call for up to 2½ years in prison when he’s sentenced on Feb. 23.
Before pleading guilty, Presta was asked by U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin what he did for a living. Presta said he had been the mayor of Crestwood for the past nine years but resigned Tuesday night.
The guilty plea marked the latest conviction in a wide-ranging federal bribery probe that has toppled a number of politicians and clout-heavy operatives in Chicago’s west and southwest suburbs.
Presta, a Democrat first elected mayor in 2013, was charged last year with accepting an envelope with $5,000 cash in March 2019 from Omar Maani, an executive at clout-heavy red light camera company SafeSpeed LLC. Maani was actually cooperating with the FBI and the entire exchange was caught on an undercover camera.
Presta, who at the time was running for Cook County commissioner, took the money in exchange for helping SafeSpeed get more red light cameras in the village and boost revenues from existing cameras by approving more violations, according to his plea agreement with prosecutors.
During one recorded phone call with Maani before taking the bribe, Presta touted a recent increase in violations, saying, “We’re starting to get the numbers again. You got a new sheriff in town,” according to the plea.
After the bribe was paid, Maani asked Presta to keep quiet about the money, the plea stated. “Oh no. I’m glad nobody else is here. I can’t even put it in the bank,” Presta replied, according to the plea.
When agents later showed Presta a recording of him taking the envelope, he claimed there was no money in it, according to the plea.
Presta, who was elected to a third term in April, had indicated over the summer that he planned to step down from the job due to health reasons. He later said he was postponing that action.
At the Village Board meeting last month, where an acting mayor had been expected to be named to take over the duties, Presta told residents that his reversal follows advice of his doctors, the village manager and the village attorney.
The board also tabled action on creating a new position of economic development director, which Presta had indicated he would fill. The job is expected to pay $65,000, the same salary Presta makes as mayor.
Earlier this year, John O’Sullivan, the former Worth Township supervisor and state lawmaker who was a longtime ally of former House Speaker Michael Madigan, also pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme.
Prosecutors alleged O’Sullivan conspired with political operative Patrick Doherty and SafeSpeed executive Omar Maani to pay $4,000 in bribes to receive the official support of an Oak Lawn trustee to put the ticketing cameras at additional intersections.
Doherty, a Democratic political operative and former chief of staff to then-Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski, has been charged with bribery conspiracy alleging he funneled payments from a SafeSpeed agent to Sandoval in exchange for the senator’s help in Springfield. Doherty is also accused in a 10-page indictment with conspiring with Tobolski to shake down a real estate developer doing business in McCook.
Tobolski has pleaded guilty to accepting at least a quarter of a million dollars in a variety of schemes, including extorting a restaurant owner who needed village permission to serve liquor at a catered event.
Maani, meanwhile, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors after he wore a wire for federal investigators.
Neither SafeSpeed nor any of its current owners has been charged with wrongdoing. CEO Nikki Zollar has said Maani was acting without the company’s knowledge.
Meanwhile, the Tribune first reported in 2019 that authorities had sought information related to $27,000 worth of expense reimbursements to Presta as part of the corruption investigation.
Asked at the time why authorities were interested in the reimbursement material, Presta told the Tribune he wasn’t sure:
“You’ve got the $1 million question,” he said, “I don’t know.”
"light" - Google News
November 17, 2021 at 11:49PM
https://ift.tt/30xk3Pa
Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta resigns, pleads guilty to bribery in red-light camera probe - Chicago Tribune
"light" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Wm8QLw
https://ift.tt/2Stbv5k
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta resigns, pleads guilty to bribery in red-light camera probe - Chicago Tribune"
Post a Comment