Hard to believe!

State Sen. Emil Jones III hit with federal bribery charges tied to red-light camera investigation
The son of former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr. is also charged with lying to the FBI.
By Jon Seidel and Tina Sfondeles
Updated Sept 20, 2022, 9:03pm CDT




Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, represents the 14th Senate District, encompassing Far South Side neighborhoods and south suburban Cook County.

State Sen. Emil Jones III has been hit with federal bribery charges three years after he allegedly lied to the FBI about whether he’d agreed to protect the politically connected red-light camera company SafeSpeed LLC in the Illinois General Assembly.

The South Side Democrat, a deputy majority leader, has served in the Legislature since 2009 and is the son of former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr. The younger Jones is also charged for his alleged false statement to the feds Sept. 24, 2019.

That was the same day agents raided the home and state Capitol offices of then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval, who died in 2020.

Prosecutors filed the charges against Jones III in a document known as an information, which typically signals a defendant’s plan to plead guilty. He would be the second member of the Senate to wind up pleading guilty to a federal criminal charge this year, following Thomas Cullerton.

The timing of the charges creates a scenario where Jones III, who is running for re-election, will likely appear on the November ballot regardless of how his case plays out. But if he winds up resigning from the Senate, someone would likely then be appointed to serve out the full, four-year term, which begins in January.




Jones III could not immediately be reached for comment on the charges. But his father said in a statement they “do not reflect the man he is.”

“Everyone knows he is an honest, hardworking legislator,” the former Senate president said. “I intend to fight with him and stand alongside him throughout this process.”

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon on Tuesday asked Jones III to resign from his leadership post and his role as chair of the Senate’s Licensed Activities committee. The committee chair role carried a roughly $10,000 stipend.

“These are grave allegations. Members of the Senate and all public officials need to hold themselves to a high ethical standard for the public to have trust and faith in our work,” Harmon said in a statement.





State Senate President Don Harmon in 2017.


Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said in his own statement that “the Democrat Party of Illinois has become an organized crime family whose only purpose is to shakedown Illinois taxpayers.”

The federal charges point to a Senate bill filed in February 2019 requiring a statewide study of automated traffic law enforcement systems, including red-light cameras.

The feds say Jones III agreed that, in exchange for benefits provided by SafeSpeed partner Omar Maani, he would work to limit such studies to systems used in Chicago, “thereby excluding from study” the systems “in numerous other municipalities” served by SafeSpeed.

Jones III also allegedly told Maani he would protect SafeSpeed from legislation in the General Assembly in exchange for $5,000 and a job for an unnamed associate. Then, the state senator allegedly lied to the FBI about his role in the scheme on Sept. 24, 2019.