Presta resigns, pleads guilty in bribery case
As Crestwood mayor, he took $5,000 cash from informant
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 using a facility in interstate commerce in aid of bribery and official misconduct and tax counts alleging he failed to file an income tax return and also willfully filed a false income tax return. Preliminary sentencing guidelines call for up to 2 ½ years in prison when he’s sentenced 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.
A village official later emailed the Tribune a copy of Presta’s resignation letter, which was dated Tuesday and said he was resigning “effective immediately.”
“It has been an honor serving the residents of our Village as a Trustee and as Mayor,” the letter read. “I will make myself available to my successor to provide a smooth transition.”
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 cloutheavy 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.
In addition to the cash bribe, Presta admitted in his plea agreement that he solicited campaign donations from Maani in January 2018, during his unsuccessful run for county commissioner. The two agreed to disguise payment from Maani by having him pay cash to cover an invoice from an advertising firm, according to the plea.
When later discussing the plan on the phone, Presta said, “I thought that maybe you were worried about giving me money. I thought maybe you could pay part of a bill there,” according to the plea.
The next day, Maani met with Presta and agreed to give him $4,100 in cash to cover the invoice. Both men understood the payment was in exchange for Presta’s help in making sure SafeSpeed’s red-light camera revenue would continue to “creep up higher,” the plea stated.
Before entering his guilty plea Wednesday, Presta was asked by the judge to say in his own words what he did wrong.
“I accepted money from a person who I knew wanted (me) to take action as the mayor of Crestwood,” said Presta, who appeared in court via a video link. “I told that person I would see what I could do.”
In a written statement after the hearing, Presta’s attorney, Thomas Breen, said that despite what he told Maani, Presta never actually took any steps to get more SafeSpeed cameras in the village or boost revenue.
“Mr. Presta accepts responsibility for his actions and regrets any embarrassment he may have brought upon himself, his family or the people he has represented during a 23-year period of public service.”
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 the 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 thenCook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski, has been charged with bribery conspiracy alleging he funneled payments from a SafeSpeed agent to thenstate Sen. Martin 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.”