Editor's note: ...And still the crooks in the Probate Court of Cook County go unpunished. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Ex-Stroger aide goes on trial in kickbacks case
Carla Oglesby accused of taking part in scheme to steal $300K
Carla Oglesby, a deputy chief of staff to former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, is accused of stealing $300,000 using fraudulent contracts and kickbacks. (Cook County state's attorney office / October 5, 2010)
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A top aide hired by former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger in the waning days of his administration launched a scheme with another aide to steal about $300,000 using fraudulent contracts and kickbacks paid in cash-stuffed envelopes, prosecutors said as her bench trial began Monday.
"Unusual things" began to happen after Carla Oglesby became Stroger's deputy chief of staff in 2010 and gained signatory powers over a number of department accounts, Assistant State's Attorney Robert Podlasek said in his opening statement.
She then steered a $24,975 contract — just under the $25,000 level that required the County Board's approval — to her own company, CGC Communications, and was paid even though no work was ever done, the prosecutor said. A check was cut to the company the same day it submitted a proposal for work, he said.
Oglesby later steered a $24,995 contract to Arrei Management Inc. — a company prosecutors said she formed but that had no phone number or address beyond a postal box, Podlasek said.
"The common denominator in all these schemes was Carla Oglesby had her signature on those documents," he said.
Oglesby, 44, who is charged with felony theft, official misconduct and money laundering, is on trial at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Judge James Linn, who is overseeing the bench trial, will decide her fate. She faces a minimum of six years in prison if convicted.
A former administrative assistant testified Monday that it typically took three weeks for the county to approve payments to a vendor on a new contract, but after Oglesby was hired to her $120,000-a-year-post, she wanted the time cut to 24 hours.
Prosecutors alleged that Eugene Mullins, Stroger's onetime spokesman, was a co-conspirator. Mullins has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he took $35,000 in kickbacks in exchange for steering county contracts to people he knew. Those acquaintances would testify to handing envelopes filled with cash to Mullins at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago and elsewhere, both sides agreed the evidence would show.
Oglesby's attorney, Anthony Schumann, told the judge that other department heads — including the county's chief financial officer and comptroller — signed off on the contracts and that his client had no knowledge of the kickbacks allegedly paid to Mullins.
"There were five other people who reviewed these contracts and said they were OK," he said.
Schumann also said that to make their case on the official misconduct charge, prosecutors must show Oglesby knew "there was a prohibition against" her actions.
"Carla Oglesby never had ethical training until March 26 — after the contracts were entered into," he said.
sschmadeke@tribune.com
"Unusual things" began to happen after Carla Oglesby became Stroger's deputy chief of staff in 2010 and gained signatory powers over a number of department accounts, Assistant State's Attorney Robert Podlasek said in his opening statement.
She then steered a $24,975 contract — just under the $25,000 level that required the County Board's approval — to her own company, CGC Communications, and was paid even though no work was ever done, the prosecutor said. A check was cut to the company the same day it submitted a proposal for work, he said.
Oglesby later steered a $24,995 contract to Arrei Management Inc. — a company prosecutors said she formed but that had no phone number or address beyond a postal box, Podlasek said.
"The common denominator in all these schemes was Carla Oglesby had her signature on those documents," he said.
Oglesby, 44, who is charged with felony theft, official misconduct and money laundering, is on trial at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Judge James Linn, who is overseeing the bench trial, will decide her fate. She faces a minimum of six years in prison if convicted.
A former administrative assistant testified Monday that it typically took three weeks for the county to approve payments to a vendor on a new contract, but after Oglesby was hired to her $120,000-a-year-post, she wanted the time cut to 24 hours.
Prosecutors alleged that Eugene Mullins, Stroger's onetime spokesman, was a co-conspirator. Mullins has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he took $35,000 in kickbacks in exchange for steering county contracts to people he knew. Those acquaintances would testify to handing envelopes filled with cash to Mullins at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago and elsewhere, both sides agreed the evidence would show.
Oglesby's attorney, Anthony Schumann, told the judge that other department heads — including the county's chief financial officer and comptroller — signed off on the contracts and that his client had no knowledge of the kickbacks allegedly paid to Mullins.
"There were five other people who reviewed these contracts and said they were OK," he said.
Schumann also said that to make their case on the official misconduct charge, prosecutors must show Oglesby knew "there was a prohibition against" her actions.
"Carla Oglesby never had ethical training until March 26 — after the contracts were entered into," he said.
sschmadeke@tribune.com
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