Federal prosecutors have charged former state Sen. Martin Sandoval with bribery and filing a false tax return, four months after they targeted his home and offices in a high-profile raid.
The new charges revolve around Sandoval’s support for red-light cameras.
The feds filed the charges against Sandoval on Monday in a two-page, lightly detailed information, a document that typically signals a defendant’s intention to plead guilty. His attorney, Dylan Smith, declined to comment.
Sandoval’s arraignment has been set for 11 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood.
The bribery count against Sandoval alleges that, between 2016 and September 2019, he “corruptly solicited, demanded, agreed to accept and accepted” money for “continued support for the operation of red-light cameras in the State of Illinois, including opposing legislation adverse to the interests of the red-light camera industry.”
Sandoval is also accused of filing a 2017 income tax return that said his total income was $125,905, when he “knew that the total income substantially exceeded that amount.”
Sandoval is the fourth elected official to be charged as a result of sweeping, ongoing investigations by the feds into public corruption in Illinois. The new charges also follow by a little more than a week the filing of charges against former state Rep. Luis Arroyo that suggest he also expects to plead guilty.
Federal agents descended Sept. 24 on Sandoval’s home and offices — including his office in the state capitol building in Springfield. They could be seen lugging away boxes, electronics and a bag marked “Evidence.”
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Records show the feds sought a wide swath of items, including information about the politically connected red-light camera company SafeSpeed. Nikki Zollar, the company’s CEO, later insisted to the Sun-Times, “we don’t pay people off.”
Federal agents followed their raid on Sandoval’s offices with a sweep of several southwest suburbs, during which agents were asking questions about SafeSpeed, the Sun-Times learned. A source told the newspaper the suburban raids were related to the Sandoval raid.
When they visited Sandoval’s offices in the capitol, the feds were also seeking information about ComEd and Exelon. The companies have acknowledged they’ve received multiple subpoenas, including one revolving around Sandoval.
Sandoval resigned effective Jan. 1.
