Ex-Hendon aide guilty of bribery
Federal sting nabbed former campaign treasurer
(Tribune illustration)
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A onetime campaign treasurer for former state Sen. Rickey Hendon pleaded guilty Monday to his role in a kickback scheme involving thousands of dollars in federal grants.
Dean Nichols, 63, entered his plea to one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official. He faces nearly five years in prison when he is sentenced in January by U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur.
Also Monday, Nichols' associate Anthony Johnson pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy count and faces as much as 18 months behind bars.
Nichols and Johnson were among seven defendants caught in an FBI sting that began in 2011 when corrupt Chicago police Officer Ali Haleem — who was cooperating with the agents because of his own federal troubles — approached Nichols, his longtime friend. Haleem claimed to have a corrupt federal Health and Human Services Department contact who he said was passing out $25,000 grants "like candy."
Haleem led Nichols and the others to believe they would be able to obtain the grants by paying $5,000 in kickbacks to the HHS official and a private contractor who solicited grant recipients. The contractor was actually an undercover FBI agent, and the HHS official was fictional, prosecutors said.
Nichols admitted submitting five grant applications, including one for Johnson's organization, Children at Risk, in December 2011. The next month, Johnson met with Haleem, who handed over a $10,000 check that Johnson believed was the first installment of the grant money. Johnson cashed the check and paid Haleem $5,000 in cash as a kickback, according to Johnson's plea agreement.
Nichols was caught on undercover recordings discussing carving up nine grants and how the influx of cash would mean "an extra trip to the Dells this year," according to court records. Nichols also allegedly said he hoped the grant checks could be hand-delivered instead of mailed as a way to try to avoid mail fraud charges.
Johnson was highlighted in a 2008 Tribune investigation of dubious after-school programs funded by controversial state grants, many of them awarded by Hendon.
Hendon, who abruptly quit the Senate in February 2011, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Haleem worked undercover for the feds in several corruption investigations in an effort to get a reduced sentence for selling guns to felons and accepting bribes from tow truck drivers while on duty.
jmeisner@tribune.com
Dean Nichols, 63, entered his plea to one count of conspiracy to bribe a public official. He faces nearly five years in prison when he is sentenced in January by U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur.
Also Monday, Nichols' associate Anthony Johnson pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy count and faces as much as 18 months behind bars.
Nichols and Johnson were among seven defendants caught in an FBI sting that began in 2011 when corrupt Chicago police Officer Ali Haleem — who was cooperating with the agents because of his own federal troubles — approached Nichols, his longtime friend. Haleem claimed to have a corrupt federal Health and Human Services Department contact who he said was passing out $25,000 grants "like candy."
Haleem led Nichols and the others to believe they would be able to obtain the grants by paying $5,000 in kickbacks to the HHS official and a private contractor who solicited grant recipients. The contractor was actually an undercover FBI agent, and the HHS official was fictional, prosecutors said.
Nichols admitted submitting five grant applications, including one for Johnson's organization, Children at Risk, in December 2011. The next month, Johnson met with Haleem, who handed over a $10,000 check that Johnson believed was the first installment of the grant money. Johnson cashed the check and paid Haleem $5,000 in cash as a kickback, according to Johnson's plea agreement.
Nichols was caught on undercover recordings discussing carving up nine grants and how the influx of cash would mean "an extra trip to the Dells this year," according to court records. Nichols also allegedly said he hoped the grant checks could be hand-delivered instead of mailed as a way to try to avoid mail fraud charges.
Johnson was highlighted in a 2008 Tribune investigation of dubious after-school programs funded by controversial state grants, many of them awarded by Hendon.
Hendon, who abruptly quit the Senate in February 2011, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Haleem worked undercover for the feds in several corruption investigations in an effort to get a reduced sentence for selling guns to felons and accepting bribes from tow truck drivers while on duty.
jmeisner@tribune.com
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