Former aide to disgraced Cook Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski had pleaded guilty to bribing multiple public officials in several schemes that spanned years.
By Andy Grimm
Updated Mar 1, 2023, 6:41pm CST
Patrick Doherty, then chief of staff for Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, leaves the Dirksen Federal Building after his arraignment in 2020. Doherty, 76, on Wednesday was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribery and tax evasion counts.
The former chief of staff for disgraced Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski is the latest public official sentenced to prison in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe targeting Chicago’s south suburbs.
Patrick Doherty, 67, was sentenced to more than five years in prison on counts of bribery and tax evasion and will have to pay back some $80,000 in state and federal taxes. Doherty last year pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors, admitting he was involved in multiple bribery schemes spanning several years, seeking contracts for SafeSpeed to install cameras in south suburban towns and fend off state regulation of the devices.
A longtime political operator who received letters of support from former U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski among other southwest side pols, Doherty sat beside his lawyers with his eyes closed as Assistant State’s Attorney Tiffany Ardam listed the many payoffs Doherty coordinated while working both as a sales agent for SafeSpeed while also holding down a part-time job working for Tobolski.
Doherty considered bribes a cost of doing business, Ardam said, quoting from a wiretapped conversation where he Doherty counseled an unnamed confederate about paying off a public official to get work from the village of McCook, where Tobolski also served as mayor.
“It’s all contingent on what you can give,” Ardam quoted.
No comments:
Post a Comment