Illinois mayor expected to plead guilty in corruption probe

The mayor of a Chicago suburb is expected to plead guilty on charges stemming from a corruption probe, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

The attorney for Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta (D) told the Chicago Sun-Times that he asked U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin to cancel’s his client’s upcoming trial, slated to begin on Dec. 6. 

Presta was arrested in August 2020 on charges related to bribery, tax crimes and lying to federal agents, according to the Sun-Times.

Prosecutors allege that Presta accepted a $5,000 cash-filled envelope in a 2018 meeting with a representative from red-light camera company SafeSpeed. He is also accused of filing false tax returns in 2015 and 2018 and failing to file income taxes in 2014, the Sun-Times reported.

Former Illinois state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D) pleaded guilty in January 2020 to accepting $25,000 from SafeSpeed to protect the interests of the company. He died in December.