Busboy-turned-county worker collected salary while he was jailed
June 15, 2009
BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter
If a guy's got clout in Cook County, getting tossed in the hoosegow could be like a paid vacation.
Tony Cole, the busboy- turned-patronage worker at the center of a county hiring scandal, apparently had that kind of clout in the finance department, according to payroll records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
County president Todd Stroger's cousin, former chief financial officer Donna Dunnings, gave her former secretary paid time off that he did not earn for workdays he was locked in county jail. Dunnings also signed time cards that claimed Cole worked weekends that he did not show up at the office, county records show.
Cole got his county job after a night pouring Stroger icewater at a River North steakhouse. Stroger later fired Cole for lying about his criminal past on a job application.
Dunnings -- whom Stroger fired over her dealings with Cole without giving specifics -- signed off on three "excused" absences with pay for Cole during his stint in county jail between Nov. 19 and Nov. 21 for violating orders of protection against an ex-girlfriend, according to Cole's time records.
On Nov. 21, Dunnings used her personal credit cards to bail out Cole, who said he promised to pay her back as soon as he got paid.
Dunnings also signed off on time cards that report Cole worked 14 hours the weekend of Nov. 22.
But security records kept by the sheriff's department said Cole was in the county building at 118 N. Clark for only four hours and 20 minutes that weekend.
Dunnings bailed Cole out of jail a second time Jan. 23 -- the same day Cole got comp day off "per D. Dunnings," records show.
On Jan. 25, the Sunday after Cole was released from jail, Dunnings signed a time card that reported Cole worked four hours. But Cole did not sign in at the county building that day, sheriff's department records show.
Dunnings would not comment on the excused absences, but said Cole earned the comp days off by working extra hours.
When told county time sheets did not show evidence that Cole worked enough extra hours to warrant receiving that much comp time, Dunnings said a "time keeper" kept track of comp time hours and she just signed off on the time sheets.
A county source close to the situation said Cole was the office time keeper.
Stroger spokesman Eugene Mullins said he's not sure if Cole was assigned to keep his own time records, but the county does not condone giving employees excused absences with pay that are not due them.
"The county does not have a policy to pay money to employees for pay they have not earned," Mullins said.
The Sun-Times obtained Cole's time records through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Stroger administration, however, has refused to release other county records requested by the paper because an "investigating body" directed the county in writing not to release the information, Stroger's special counsel Laura Lechowicz Felicione said.
Sources have confirmed that the Cook County state's attorney's office financial crimes unit has launched a probe into the Dunnings- Cole controversy.
Cole, who remains in county jail and is due in domestic violence court today, said an assistant states attorney in the financial crimes division visited him in jail and he received a grand jury subpoena.
Cole also told the Sun-Times an FBI agent -- confirmed as an investigator from the Chicago field office -- has visited him in jail several times and as recently as last week to ask questions about Dunnings and Stroger and any information Cole might have about county corruption
Monday, June 15, 2009
City's lease with Vanecko's company has Hired Truck link
INDOOR PARKING | City says it didn't know of Vanecko's interest in warehouse
June 13, 2009
BY TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters
Chicago water officials wanted a place to park dozens of dump trucks they'd been leasing since the collapse of the city's scandalous Hired Truck Program.
They found the spot in October 2006 -- a massive industrial property on Pulaski Road, just north of the Stevenson Expy.
For a year, they parked dump trucks outside. Then, city officials decided they wanted to move the trucks indoors to a warehouse on the 15-acre site.
As they negotiated a lease for that building, it changed hands, city officials say. And they say they had no idea the new owners included an investment company co-owned by Mayor Daley's nephew, whose firm manages $68 million for five city pension funds.
Some of that pension money -- $4.2 million -- was used to buy the warehouse in November 2007. And Chicago taxpayers have since paid nearly $500,000 to lease it.
The property is at the center of the latest scandal confronting Daley, whose nephew Robert Vanecko resigned from his pension-investment company Tuesday, two weeks after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas seeking details of why the pension funds invested with Vanecko's start-up firm three years ago.
City officials have yet to respond to a Chicago Sun-Times request for copies of lease documents. But they are now offering an explanation for how they came to lease a huge garage at 3348 S. Pulaski for the city Water Management Department.
And it ties back into the biggest scandal Daley has faced during his 20 years as mayor: the Hired Truck Program, which the city got rid of after a Sun-Times investigation found the city spent millions of dollars hiring dump trucks that were often paid to do nothing.
"In 2006, the City of Chicago's Hired Truck Program was dismantled, and the city needed to purchase 50 20-ton trucks to work with water and sewer construction crews," said water department spokesman Tom LaPorte. "To meet this demand, an additional 45 trucks were also leased. This significant addition of equipment meant adequate parking locations needed to be found.''
The city wanted to park the trucks near Reliable Asphalt Corporation, a supplier of construction materials, at 3741 S. Pulaski. Reliable is owned by Michael Vondra, who is referred to in the original criminal complaint filed against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Vondra wanted unspecified help from the governor on a business venture, according to prosecutors, who said Blagojevich, in turn, wanted $100,000 in campaign contributions. Vondra, who hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, never raised the money.
City officials hoped to park the trucks on property Reliable leases from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, but Reliable turned the city down, LaPorte said. So city officials set their sights on the Pulaski warehouse.
On Oct. 10, 2006, the city signed a month-to-month lease to park trucks at 3348 S. Pulaski. That included city-owned trucks and also trucks leased from Steve's Equipment Services under multimillion-dollar contracts struck after the Hired Truck Program was scrapped. At first, the trucks were parked outside the massive, 320,000-square-foot warehouse, LaPorte said.
Then, city officials decided they wanted to move the trucks inside and began negotiating a long-term lease with owner Michael Lazar.
"In the midst of the negotiations, Mr. Lazar sold his interest in the building,'' LaPorte said.
On Nov. 14, 2007, the city signed a month-to-month lease with Lazar to move its trucks inside the warehouse.
On Nov. 27, 2007, Lazar sold the building to Sydney Pulaski LLC for $10.5 million. The deal included the $4.2 million in city pension money managed by DV Urban Realty Partners, co-owned by the mayor's nephew and his partners, Allison S. Davis and his son Jared Davis.
City officials have said they didn't know Vanecko was involved. Vanecko has never taken part in the ongoing negotiations for a long-term lease, they also said.
On Dec. 1, 2007, the city began parking its trucks inside the warehouse, LaPorte said.
The city says it moved into the warehouse after Vanecko's group bought the property. Vanecko's firm said last week that the city already had its trucks in the warehouse before it bought the property.
The city has paid a total of $480,408 in rent to Sydney Pulaski.
The city had paid $50,026 in rent to Lazar's company.
The terms of the indoor lease remained the same after Lazar sold the building to Vanecko's group, according to city officials and Vanecko's company. The city is paying $3.83 per square foot for 70,565 square feet -- about 20 percent of the warehouse.
Another tenant is Bus & Truck of Chicago, a city contractor that got a three-year, $4.3 million deal last September from the city's Fleet Management Department to repair city vehicles. The city has paid the company more than $345,000 since 2006.
City officials are still negotiating a five-year lease for the warehouse, but they are also looking at other places to park the trucks, LaPorte said.
Vanecko's partners apparently wouldn't mind if the city found another location.
"What we knew is [city officials] were looking for larger space, so our assumption was that they would move out," Allison Davis said in an interview last week on WTTW-Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight." "And we were marketing the space to other buyers. They repeatedly came back to us and wanted to lease the space, and we said no, this is not appropriate, and this will only cause us grief and problems.
"While it's a very attractive lease, it's a problem,'' Davis said. "I don't need a problem."
INDOOR PARKING | City says it didn't know of Vanecko's interest in warehouse
June 13, 2009
BY TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters
Chicago water officials wanted a place to park dozens of dump trucks they'd been leasing since the collapse of the city's scandalous Hired Truck Program.
They found the spot in October 2006 -- a massive industrial property on Pulaski Road, just north of the Stevenson Expy.
For a year, they parked dump trucks outside. Then, city officials decided they wanted to move the trucks indoors to a warehouse on the 15-acre site.
As they negotiated a lease for that building, it changed hands, city officials say. And they say they had no idea the new owners included an investment company co-owned by Mayor Daley's nephew, whose firm manages $68 million for five city pension funds.
Some of that pension money -- $4.2 million -- was used to buy the warehouse in November 2007. And Chicago taxpayers have since paid nearly $500,000 to lease it.
The property is at the center of the latest scandal confronting Daley, whose nephew Robert Vanecko resigned from his pension-investment company Tuesday, two weeks after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas seeking details of why the pension funds invested with Vanecko's start-up firm three years ago.
City officials have yet to respond to a Chicago Sun-Times request for copies of lease documents. But they are now offering an explanation for how they came to lease a huge garage at 3348 S. Pulaski for the city Water Management Department.
And it ties back into the biggest scandal Daley has faced during his 20 years as mayor: the Hired Truck Program, which the city got rid of after a Sun-Times investigation found the city spent millions of dollars hiring dump trucks that were often paid to do nothing.
"In 2006, the City of Chicago's Hired Truck Program was dismantled, and the city needed to purchase 50 20-ton trucks to work with water and sewer construction crews," said water department spokesman Tom LaPorte. "To meet this demand, an additional 45 trucks were also leased. This significant addition of equipment meant adequate parking locations needed to be found.''
The city wanted to park the trucks near Reliable Asphalt Corporation, a supplier of construction materials, at 3741 S. Pulaski. Reliable is owned by Michael Vondra, who is referred to in the original criminal complaint filed against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Vondra wanted unspecified help from the governor on a business venture, according to prosecutors, who said Blagojevich, in turn, wanted $100,000 in campaign contributions. Vondra, who hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, never raised the money.
City officials hoped to park the trucks on property Reliable leases from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, but Reliable turned the city down, LaPorte said. So city officials set their sights on the Pulaski warehouse.
On Oct. 10, 2006, the city signed a month-to-month lease to park trucks at 3348 S. Pulaski. That included city-owned trucks and also trucks leased from Steve's Equipment Services under multimillion-dollar contracts struck after the Hired Truck Program was scrapped. At first, the trucks were parked outside the massive, 320,000-square-foot warehouse, LaPorte said.
Then, city officials decided they wanted to move the trucks inside and began negotiating a long-term lease with owner Michael Lazar.
"In the midst of the negotiations, Mr. Lazar sold his interest in the building,'' LaPorte said.
On Nov. 14, 2007, the city signed a month-to-month lease with Lazar to move its trucks inside the warehouse.
On Nov. 27, 2007, Lazar sold the building to Sydney Pulaski LLC for $10.5 million. The deal included the $4.2 million in city pension money managed by DV Urban Realty Partners, co-owned by the mayor's nephew and his partners, Allison S. Davis and his son Jared Davis.
City officials have said they didn't know Vanecko was involved. Vanecko has never taken part in the ongoing negotiations for a long-term lease, they also said.
On Dec. 1, 2007, the city began parking its trucks inside the warehouse, LaPorte said.
The city says it moved into the warehouse after Vanecko's group bought the property. Vanecko's firm said last week that the city already had its trucks in the warehouse before it bought the property.
The city has paid a total of $480,408 in rent to Sydney Pulaski.
The city had paid $50,026 in rent to Lazar's company.
The terms of the indoor lease remained the same after Lazar sold the building to Vanecko's group, according to city officials and Vanecko's company. The city is paying $3.83 per square foot for 70,565 square feet -- about 20 percent of the warehouse.
Another tenant is Bus & Truck of Chicago, a city contractor that got a three-year, $4.3 million deal last September from the city's Fleet Management Department to repair city vehicles. The city has paid the company more than $345,000 since 2006.
City officials are still negotiating a five-year lease for the warehouse, but they are also looking at other places to park the trucks, LaPorte said.
Vanecko's partners apparently wouldn't mind if the city found another location.
"What we knew is [city officials] were looking for larger space, so our assumption was that they would move out," Allison Davis said in an interview last week on WTTW-Channel 11's "Chicago Tonight." "And we were marketing the space to other buyers. They repeatedly came back to us and wanted to lease the space, and we said no, this is not appropriate, and this will only cause us grief and problems.
"While it's a very attractive lease, it's a problem,'' Davis said. "I don't need a problem."
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Background checks for sheriff's office, police
February 25, 2009
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter fmain@suntimes.com
The Cook County sheriff's office and the Chicago Police Department are launching new efforts to weed out bad apples.
Sheriff Tom Dart recently ordered his internal-affairs investigators to conduct background checks on every one of the office's roughly 7,000 employees, spokesman Steve Patterson said.
Under the department's rules, every sworn law enforcement officer is required to report any contact with police. If they don't, they could be fired, Patterson said. Also, any sworn officer with a felony conviction can't keep that post, he said.
"As for civilian employees, we'd look at it on a case-by-case basis," Patterson said.
The Chicago Police Department, meanwhile, is sending four officers and a sergeant through training to operate polygraph machines. Anyone applying to be an officer will have to take a lie-detector test, said Ted O'Keefe, head of the department's personnel division.
Patterson said the sheriff's office already requires people applying for sworn positions to take a polygraph test. Sworn positions include correctional officers, court deputies and police officers.
Applicants are asked about drug sales, theft, time-sheet fraud, vandalism, gang affiliations and arrests, Patterson said. Last year, 295 applicants took polygraph tests, he said.
"The test gives us tremendous insight into the backgrounds of people applying for law enforcement jobs," he said, adding, "The test results aren't the sole determining factor in deciding whether someone gets hired."
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter fmain@suntimes.com
The Cook County sheriff's office and the Chicago Police Department are launching new efforts to weed out bad apples.
Sheriff Tom Dart recently ordered his internal-affairs investigators to conduct background checks on every one of the office's roughly 7,000 employees, spokesman Steve Patterson said.
Under the department's rules, every sworn law enforcement officer is required to report any contact with police. If they don't, they could be fired, Patterson said. Also, any sworn officer with a felony conviction can't keep that post, he said.
"As for civilian employees, we'd look at it on a case-by-case basis," Patterson said.
The Chicago Police Department, meanwhile, is sending four officers and a sergeant through training to operate polygraph machines. Anyone applying to be an officer will have to take a lie-detector test, said Ted O'Keefe, head of the department's personnel division.
Patterson said the sheriff's office already requires people applying for sworn positions to take a polygraph test. Sworn positions include correctional officers, court deputies and police officers.
Applicants are asked about drug sales, theft, time-sheet fraud, vandalism, gang affiliations and arrests, Patterson said. Last year, 295 applicants took polygraph tests, he said.
"The test gives us tremendous insight into the backgrounds of people applying for law enforcement jobs," he said, adding, "The test results aren't the sole determining factor in deciding whether someone gets hired."
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Former fed Blakey gets top Cook County corruption-fighting post
February 19, 2009
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez introduced Jack Blakey today as her office's new special prosecutions chief.
The former assistant U.S. attorney will be in charge of pursuing corruption cases, as well as organized-crime and narcotics investigations.
Blakey moves to Alvarez's staff from the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, where he was on the team that successfully prosecuted Tony Rezko on corruption charges involving state of Illinois deals under ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
As Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported today, crime-busting is in Blakey's blood. His father, George Robert Blakey, was the principal author of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known for short as the RICO law, that's often used to prosecute organized-crime figures, and is a preeminent authority on the law. The father has been a law professor at the University of Notre Dame since 1980 and, before that, also taught there from 1964 to 1969.
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez introduced Jack Blakey today as her office's new special prosecutions chief.
The former assistant U.S. attorney will be in charge of pursuing corruption cases, as well as organized-crime and narcotics investigations.
Blakey moves to Alvarez's staff from the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, where he was on the team that successfully prosecuted Tony Rezko on corruption charges involving state of Illinois deals under ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
As Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported today, crime-busting is in Blakey's blood. His father, George Robert Blakey, was the principal author of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known for short as the RICO law, that's often used to prosecute organized-crime figures, and is a preeminent authority on the law. The father has been a law professor at the University of Notre Dame since 1980 and, before that, also taught there from 1964 to 1969.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
2 city workers charged in park drug deal
HUMBOLDT PARK | Firefighter, Water Dept. worker accused of cocaine transaction
February 17, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporters
A 62-year-old Chicago firefighter has been charged with selling cocaine to a worker in the Department of Water Management, which was at the center of a 2005 heroin-trafficking scandal.
Fire engineer Ruben Santiago has been placed on an unpaid leave of absence after being charged Thursday with manufacture, delivery and possession of more than 15 grams of cocaine.
Waldemar Cruz, a 63-year-old Water Management rate taker who allegedly bought drugs from Santiago, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. His employment status was not known.
The alleged drug deal between two city employees in their 60s allegedly took place in the inner drive of Humboldt Park.
Officers from the Chicago Police Department's gang enforcement unit conducting surveillance in response to complaints of narcotics sales in Humboldt Park reportedly observed the hand-to-hand transaction.
After the 2 p.m. street sale, Santiago allegedly got into his personal vehicle and threw drugs on the ground after being stopped by police. Cruz was also driving his personal car, sources said.
"At this time, there is no indication that anything illegal was done on city time. However, the conduct alleged clearly violates the oath taken to protect life," said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
In 2005, a Water Management hoisting engineer who served as a deputy voter registrar for the Hispanic Democratic Organization was accused of heading the Chicago arm of a Colombia heroin-trafficking ring. George A. Prado was arrested along with two other city employees.
Santiago's arrest marks the latest in a series of black eyes for the Chicago Fire Department.
In December, firefighter Jose Moreno was charged with sexually molesting three young children, including a 3-year-old girl and two boys, ages 5 and 6. He was hired to be their caretaker three or four times a week.
Two weeks later, another firefighter was charged with fraud and forgery; he allegedly stole natural gas after the heat was cut off at his home.
Chicago firefighters and paramedics are subject to random drug testing that traditionally yields a 1 percent positive rate, "which is good," Langford said.
February 17, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporters
A 62-year-old Chicago firefighter has been charged with selling cocaine to a worker in the Department of Water Management, which was at the center of a 2005 heroin-trafficking scandal.
Fire engineer Ruben Santiago has been placed on an unpaid leave of absence after being charged Thursday with manufacture, delivery and possession of more than 15 grams of cocaine.
Waldemar Cruz, a 63-year-old Water Management rate taker who allegedly bought drugs from Santiago, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. His employment status was not known.
The alleged drug deal between two city employees in their 60s allegedly took place in the inner drive of Humboldt Park.
Officers from the Chicago Police Department's gang enforcement unit conducting surveillance in response to complaints of narcotics sales in Humboldt Park reportedly observed the hand-to-hand transaction.
After the 2 p.m. street sale, Santiago allegedly got into his personal vehicle and threw drugs on the ground after being stopped by police. Cruz was also driving his personal car, sources said.
"At this time, there is no indication that anything illegal was done on city time. However, the conduct alleged clearly violates the oath taken to protect life," said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
In 2005, a Water Management hoisting engineer who served as a deputy voter registrar for the Hispanic Democratic Organization was accused of heading the Chicago arm of a Colombia heroin-trafficking ring. George A. Prado was arrested along with two other city employees.
Santiago's arrest marks the latest in a series of black eyes for the Chicago Fire Department.
In December, firefighter Jose Moreno was charged with sexually molesting three young children, including a 3-year-old girl and two boys, ages 5 and 6. He was hired to be their caretaker three or four times a week.
Two weeks later, another firefighter was charged with fraud and forgery; he allegedly stole natural gas after the heat was cut off at his home.
Chicago firefighters and paramedics are subject to random drug testing that traditionally yields a 1 percent positive rate, "which is good," Langford said.
Could Burris’ new statement protect him from perjury charge?
February 17, 2009
BY DAVE MCKINNEY AND NATASHA KORECKI Staff Reporters
The ranking Republican on the Illinois House panel that moved to impeach former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today he does not want to reconvene the committee to accept Sen. Roland Burris’ changed testimony.
Doing so, Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), could give Burris an ironclad defense against perjury charges should they be brought against him by a Sangamon County prosecutor.
If House Democrats allow Burris to present his revised affidavit, “They’re quietly giving him the ability to rehabilitate himself to bar any prosecution under perjury,” Durkin said.
The provision of the perjury statute that could protect Burris reads this way:
“Where the contradictory statements are made in the same continuous trial, an admission by the offender in that same continuous trial of the falsity of a contradictory statement shall bar prosecution — under any provisions of this code.”
On Monday, state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) became the first high-ranking House Democrat to call for the House Special Investigative Committee to be reconvened and to demand that Burris reappear and explain the discrepancies in his testimony.
“This, to me, is a very clever way to pound their fists,” Durkin said. “The greatest defenders of Mr. Burris are all of a sudden angered and troubled about the new affidavit. But they’re also winking at Sen. Burris at the same time.”
BY DAVE MCKINNEY AND NATASHA KORECKI Staff Reporters
The ranking Republican on the Illinois House panel that moved to impeach former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today he does not want to reconvene the committee to accept Sen. Roland Burris’ changed testimony.
Doing so, Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), could give Burris an ironclad defense against perjury charges should they be brought against him by a Sangamon County prosecutor.
If House Democrats allow Burris to present his revised affidavit, “They’re quietly giving him the ability to rehabilitate himself to bar any prosecution under perjury,” Durkin said.
The provision of the perjury statute that could protect Burris reads this way:
“Where the contradictory statements are made in the same continuous trial, an admission by the offender in that same continuous trial of the falsity of a contradictory statement shall bar prosecution — under any provisions of this code.”
On Monday, state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) became the first high-ranking House Democrat to call for the House Special Investigative Committee to be reconvened and to demand that Burris reappear and explain the discrepancies in his testimony.
“This, to me, is a very clever way to pound their fists,” Durkin said. “The greatest defenders of Mr. Burris are all of a sudden angered and troubled about the new affidavit. But they’re also winking at Sen. Burris at the same time.”
Ex-alderman Troutman sentenced to four years in prison
February 17, 2009
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
Despite a tearful plea for mercy, proclaiming she's "no monster," former Ald. Arenda Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison on mail fraud and tax fraud charges that were part of a corruption investigation.
An emotional Troutman hung her head and apologized to her ward, the city and for bringing "shame" to her family.
"As God as my witness, I am no monster. I am not a criminal and I never helped criminals," Troutman said.
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo said he couldn't understand how public officials continue, year after year, to think they can get away with corruption.
"You are a walking contradiction," Castillo said. Adding "you join the hall of shame," of corrupt Illinois politicians.
Troutman, a single mother of three, said she turned on the radio this morning -- and her son heard about his mother's predicament.
"I looked at my son's face. I didn't know what to do or say but tell him I loved him and that I'm sorry," she said, crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm regretful. There's still good in me."
A prosecutor in the case said today the corruption case grew out of a probe into the Black Disciples street gang. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Alesia said agents doing surveillance on gang kingpin Marvel Thompson saw a meeting take place between the ex-alderman and Thompson.
It was later revealed that Troutman carried on a relationship with another member of the gang, Donnell Jehan. Alesia said it was "aggravating" for law enforcement to battle gangs only to find Troutman, an alderman, had befriended gang members and used them to help her in campaigning.
"It is appalling and something the court should consider," in sentencing, Alesia said.
Alesia also revealed that on the day agents knocked on her door for her arrest, she was shredding documents having to do with the Hired Truck program and a family member who had business in that controversial program.
The Sun-Times previously revealed Troutman's family ties to the program and first reported that Troutman's shredder was still warm when agents entered her home in the 2007 raid.
Troutman admitted she coerced kickbacks totaling $21,500 over the years from developers to support their projects in her South Side ward and, in one case, outside her ward. She was famously caught on wiretaps saying that all aldermen are "ho's."
Her lawyer, Michael Gillespie, said Troutman, 51, is a single mother of three and repentant.
"Her actions are terrible," Gillespie said. "But judge, you have to look at this picture as a whole."
He spoke of doing work for affordable housing, kids, seniors and the poor.
Troutman, wearing a tan pants suit, was soft-spoken, tearful and repeatedly apologized for her actions.
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
Despite a tearful plea for mercy, proclaiming she's "no monster," former Ald. Arenda Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison on mail fraud and tax fraud charges that were part of a corruption investigation.
An emotional Troutman hung her head and apologized to her ward, the city and for bringing "shame" to her family.
"As God as my witness, I am no monster. I am not a criminal and I never helped criminals," Troutman said.
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo said he couldn't understand how public officials continue, year after year, to think they can get away with corruption.
"You are a walking contradiction," Castillo said. Adding "you join the hall of shame," of corrupt Illinois politicians.
Troutman, a single mother of three, said she turned on the radio this morning -- and her son heard about his mother's predicament.
"I looked at my son's face. I didn't know what to do or say but tell him I loved him and that I'm sorry," she said, crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm regretful. There's still good in me."
A prosecutor in the case said today the corruption case grew out of a probe into the Black Disciples street gang. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Alesia said agents doing surveillance on gang kingpin Marvel Thompson saw a meeting take place between the ex-alderman and Thompson.
It was later revealed that Troutman carried on a relationship with another member of the gang, Donnell Jehan. Alesia said it was "aggravating" for law enforcement to battle gangs only to find Troutman, an alderman, had befriended gang members and used them to help her in campaigning.
"It is appalling and something the court should consider," in sentencing, Alesia said.
Alesia also revealed that on the day agents knocked on her door for her arrest, she was shredding documents having to do with the Hired Truck program and a family member who had business in that controversial program.
The Sun-Times previously revealed Troutman's family ties to the program and first reported that Troutman's shredder was still warm when agents entered her home in the 2007 raid.
Troutman admitted she coerced kickbacks totaling $21,500 over the years from developers to support their projects in her South Side ward and, in one case, outside her ward. She was famously caught on wiretaps saying that all aldermen are "ho's."
Her lawyer, Michael Gillespie, said Troutman, 51, is a single mother of three and repentant.
"Her actions are terrible," Gillespie said. "But judge, you have to look at this picture as a whole."
He spoke of doing work for affordable housing, kids, seniors and the poor.
Troutman, wearing a tan pants suit, was soft-spoken, tearful and repeatedly apologized for her actions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
