FBI agents again raided multiple locations as part of an ongoing public corruption probe Thursday, including municipal buildings in the west suburban villages of Lyons and McCook, sources confirmed.
An FBI spokesman confirmed agents conducted “authorized law enforcement activity” at the village halls in McCook and Lyons and “conducted investigative activity” at the Summit village hall.
In addition to the village halls, there were multiple searches of nonpublic entities elsewhere, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Tribune.
Agents with the IRS criminal division were assisting the FBI in Thursday’s searches, according to IRS spokeswoman Vicki Patricka.
The village of McCook’s mayor, Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski, could not be reached immediately for comment. Lyons Village President Christopher Getty also did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The County Board met Thursday, but board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Tobolski was out ill. Her spokesman later said Preckwinkle was unaware of the raids until a staff member handed her a news report printout.
County staff members said Tobolski bought Buona beef for commissioners and staff to celebrate his birthday, which was earlier this month.
His downtown county office was empty Thursday afternoon.
Carlos Aparicio, a Tobolski staffer, said the commissioner called that county office earlier Thursday to say he would be out sick. Aparicio said he was not aware whether any authorities visited county offices.
When asked whether federal authorities had searched any county offices on Thursday, Preckwinkle said, “Not to my knowledge.”
“It’s painful to hear this,” Preckwinkle said of the McCook raid. “However, the assumption in our criminal justice system is innocent until proven guilty. This is a raid. It may or may not go any further than that.”
Preckwinkle, though, downplayed the continuing raids and investigations that have ensnared members of the Cook County Democratic Party she chairs.
“Cook County is a Democratic county,” she said. “There are thousands of elected officials. A handful have been raided.”
Gary Perlman, village attorney for McCook, said Thursday that FBI agents executed a search warrant “very early in the morning before the building was even open,” and removed files and other materials.
The warrants were seeking information about several individuals and entities, including contractors that do business with the village, Perlman said. He declined to specify what was being targeted, saying village officials were “still reviewing (the warrants) ourselves.”
No one answered the door at the mayor’s home, a block from village hall.
Meanwhile, a clerk at the Summit village hall said the mayor was not available and she was not aware of any FBI activity there Thursday.
“Just a quiet, ordinary day,” she said.
Thursday’s raids marked the latest in a slew of ongoing public corruption probes that have sent shock waves from City Hall to Springfield over the past 10 months.
Earlier this week, FBI and IRS agents spent hours behind closed doors in state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s government offices in Springfield and Cicero, as well as at his home.
The villages of Lyons, McCook and Summit are all within the boundaries of Sandoval’s 11th District.
Two sources told the Tribune on Thursday that the raids on Sandoval’s offices and in the suburbs were all connected to the same criminal probe.
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In November 2018, the FBI raided the City Hall offices of longtime Ald. Edward Burke, who at the time was the powerful chairman of the Finance Committee, and papered over windows with brown butcher paper before leaving down a back staircase with computers and files. Burke has since been indicted on sweeping racketeering charges alleging he used his clout to steer business to his private law firm. He has pleaded not guilty.
In June, a similar scene played out when agents executed search warrants at the Far South Side ward office of influential Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, the second longest-serving active member of the City Council. Austin has not been charged.
The Chicago Tribune has reported that, according to a source with knowledge of the case, investigators are looking into allegations that Sandoval used his official position to steer business to at least one company in exchange for kickbacks.
Citing the Tribune report, Republican state Rep. Grant Wehrli of Naperville sent a letter Thursday to the FBI’s Chicago field office requesting that federal authorities share with the state any evidence supporting the allegations. In light of the $45 billion infrastructure plan Illinois lawmakers approved this spring with Sandoval’s support, Wehrli said in his letter that he has “grave concerns that the state’s precious resources could be allocated to companies that illegally participated in kickback schemes.”
Sandoval is the second state senator to come under the cloud of a federal investigation.
Last month, his colleague Sen. Tom Cullerton of Villa Park was indicted on embezzlement charges alleging he pocketed almost $275,000 in salary and benefits from the Teamsters union despite doing little or no work. Cullerton has pleaded not guilty.
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella contributed.
