Ex-Crestwood mayor sentenced to a year in federal prison in red light-camera bribery probe
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Former Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison after he was caught on undercover FBI video taking what he thought was a $5,000 bribe from a red-light camera company executive.
Presta, 72, resigned in November after pleading guilty to charges of bribery, official misconduct and filing false tax returns.
In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin noted that Presta had done many good things for his community in his time as mayor, but “that’s what elected officials are supposed to do.”
The judge also said Presta’s corruption did real damage to Crestwood, a working class town that doesn’t have all the advantages of wealthier communities on the North Shore.
“The image of Crestwood is diminished when the mayor takes a bribe to jack up red light camera tickets on anyone driving through town,” Durkin said. “I don’t know how many of those tickets were unjustified. But it damages people to have to pay tickets that otherwise might not have been written.”
A Democrat first elected mayor in 2013, Presta admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he accepted the envelope with $5,000 cash in March 2019 from Omar Maani, an executive at clout-heavy red-light camera company SafeSpeed LLC. Maani, who no longer works for the firm, was actually cooperating with the FBI and the entire exchange was caught on an undercover camera.
Presta, who at the time was running for Cook County commissioner, took the money in exchange for helping SafeSpeed get more red-light cameras in the village and boost revenues from existing cameras by approving more violations, according to his plea agreement.
Before he was sentenced, Presta sniffed back tears as he apologized to his wife and the people of the town.
“I’m so sorry for bringing this scandal to the village of Crestwood,” he said, seated at the defense table reading from a sheet of paper. “I never thought that I’d be a criminal defendant.”
The FBI sting that ensnared Presta in 2017 was part of a wide-ranging political corruption investigation that has toppled a number of politicians and operatives in Chicago’s west and southwest suburbs.
His sentencing came a week after Tony Ragucci, a former cop and longtime mayor of Oakbrook Terrace, was charged with taking cash to allow SafeSpeed cameras into his town. Ragucci is cooperating, and sources have told the Tribune that new charges against others in the investigation are were expected soon.
At Presta’s sentencing hearing Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Durkin asked for two years in prison, saying the mayor’s actions have “another black eye to the Chicago area,” where political corruption is “endemic”
Presta also “doubled down” on his wrongdoing after he was confronted by FBI agents with video of him taking the money from Maani. Instead of coming clean, Presta lied and said there was nothing in the envelope.
“He didn’t acknowledge his errors,” Durkin, who is not related to the judge, wrote in a recent sentencing memo. “He lied to save himself.”
In asking for probation, Presta’s attorney, Thomas Breen, said that Presta was a “wonderful human being” who’d admitted his mistakes but otherwise was “pure as driven snow.”
“He should be an example for political figures,” Breen said, noting Presta has lived an otherwise law-abiding life, including more than 30 years as an elected official in Crestwood, first as a trustee and later as mayor.
Breen wrote in a recent court filing that a custodial sentence was unnecessary for Presta, who suffers from various health ailments and has already lost his career and embarrassed himself.
“Louis is ashamed because his actions in this case are an aberration to his esteemed life,” Breen wrote. “He cannot forgive himself, and knows that he caused the town he loves, Crestwood, to be bruised again by scandal.”
Prosecutors, however, noted that Presta’s actions were “not a momentary lapse in judgment,” and that “the ease with which he accepted this bribe is both troubling and telling.”
In fact, months before he even took the bribe, Presta solicited campaign donations from Maani during his unsuccessful run for county commissioner. The two agreed to disguise payment from Maani by having him pay cash to cover an invoice from an advertising firm, according to his plea agreement.
When later discussing the plan on the phone, Presta said, “I thought that maybe you were worried about giving me money. I thought maybe you could pay part of a bill there,” according to the plea.
The next day, Maani met with Presta and agreed to give him $4,100 in cash to cover the invoice. Both men understood the payment was in exchange for Presta’s help in making sure SafeSpeed’s red-light camera revenue would continue to “creep up higher,” the plea stated.
During one recorded phone call with Maani before taking the bribe, Presta touted a recent increase in violations, saying, “We’re starting to get the numbers again. You got a new sheriff in town,” according to the plea.
On March 7, 2018, Presta met with Maani, who gave the mayor the envelope containing $5,000 in cash and asked for his help obtaining a second red-light camera location in Crestwood. Presta accepted the envelope and said he would “do my best for you,” according to the plea.
After the bribe was paid, Maani asked Presta to keep quiet about the money.
“Oh no. I’m glad nobody else is here. I can’t even put it in the bank,” Presta replied, according to the plea.
Among the politicians ensnared in the same probe was former state Sen. Martin Sandoval, who pleaded guilty and was cooperating with authorities when he died from COVID-19 complications in 2020.
Also charged were longtime Democratic operative Patrick Doherty and former Illinois state representative and Worth Township Supervisor John O’Sullivan. Doherty has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. O’Sullivan has pleaded guilty but has yet to be sentenced.
Maani, meanwhile, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors after he wore a wire for federal investigators.
Neither SafeSpeed nor any of its current owners has been charged with wrongdoing. CEO Nikki Zollar has said Maani was acting without the company’s knowledge.
In a statement emailed after Presta’s sentencing hearing Monday, SafeSpeed said the company “remains both shocked and saddened that one of its former colleagues was engaged in criminal conduct and recruited outside individuals to help further his self-serving activities.”
“SafeSpeed remains committed to continuing to assist Illinois municipalities in improving traffic safety,” the emailed statement read. “SafeSpeed fully supports the federal government’s investigation into public corruption and will continue to aid their efforts in any way it can.”
