What an embarrassment

Louis Presta pleads guilty, resigns as mayor of Crestwood and is going to jail

Presta has faced a federal indictment since August 2020 charging him with bribery, filing false tax returns and lying to the FBI and IRS. Presta lied about whether an envelope he took during a March 2018 meeting had been stuffed with $5,000 cash, according to the indictment.
By Jon Seidel Nov 17, 2021, 10:29am CST


Louis Presta Rich Hein / Sun-Times file


Former Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta pleaded guilty Wednesday to corruption charges, admitting he sought cash payments from a red-light camera company’s representative and telling a federal judge he quit his position with the village Tuesday.

“I resigned last night,” Presta, 71, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin at the start of a hearing Wednesday.

Presta then went on to plead guilty to a bribery and official misconduct count, as well as to filing a false income tax return. He could face a sentence of two years or more in prison.

Crestwood attorney Burt Odelson later confirmed Presta’s resignation. He said a special meeting is planned Tuesday in the village to try to pick an acting mayor who would serve until the municipal election in April 2023.

Presta’s attorney told the judge last September to cancel his trial in Chicago’s federal court in anticipation of Presta’s guilty plea.

Then, the public learned in October that Presta planned to resign from his top village job and accept a new, unelected position that would have paid him the same salary. He wound up backtracking, telling angry constituents at the Crestwood Civic Center those plans were on hold “based on the decisions of the board, my attorney and my doctors.”

Presta easily won reelection last April despite the federal charges filed against him. Village officials declined to comment Wednesday morning on Presta’s status.

Presta has faced a federal indictment since August 2020 charging him with bribery, filing false tax returns and lying to the FBI and IRS. Presta lied about whether an envelope he took during a March 2018 meeting with a representative of the politically connected red-light camera company SafeSpeed had been stuffed with $5,000 cash, according to the indictment.

It said Presta sought and received benefits from SafeSpeed representatives while SafeSpeed sought to expand its services in Crestwood. During Wednesday’s hearing, he admitted he sought donations to his campaign for Cook County commissioner amid the scheme and at one point told a SafeSpeed representative, “You got a new sheriff in town.”

The indictment also said Presta spoke to federal authorities Sept. 26, 2019, amid a series of raids by federal agents that included government offices in the southwest suburbs.

The feds say Presta denied receiving any gifts or cash campaign contributions from SafeSpeed. When shown a recording of a March 7, 2018, meeting at which the feds say he accepted the envelope with $5,000 in cash, Presta lied and said there was no money inside, according to the indictment.

SafeSpeed has not been charged with a crime, and the firm has portrayed a former partner there as a rogue actor.

The indictment also accused Presta of filing false income tax returns for the years 2015 and 2018, as well as failing to file an income tax return for 2014.

Records filed last month show that Presta’s campaign fund paid $25,000 to Breen & Pugh, the law firm representing him in the criminal case.