Sept. 23--A judge Tuesday dismissed about half of the counts, including theft and kickback allegations, against a former DuPage County Forest Preserve District manager and tossed 38 other counts against a district IT vendor at the midpoint of their corruption trial.
Judge Liam Brennan issued his ruling late Tuesday after prosecutors rested their case against David Tepper, 51, a former IT manager at the Forest Preserve District, and Arif Mahmood, who had a contract with the district to provide computer services.
Authorities allege Tepper helped Mahmood land district contracts and Tepper and his district director, Mark McDonald, illegally earned extra money when Mahmood paid them via a private side business operated by Tepper. Prosecutors allege McDonald and Tepper failed to disclose the side business to district officials, who they say would not have allowed the arrangement, and that Tepper failed to disclose commissions he received through another district vendor.
McDonald is also charged in connection with the alleged scheme, but could not be tried with Tepper and Mahmood due to present health reasons.
In his ruling, the judge dismissed 73 of the 142 felony counts lodged against Tepper, including kickback and theft by deception charges. Brennan, however, let stand 69 other counts, including several charges of official misconduct.
Mahmood faced 40 counts, including theft and providing kickbacks, but the judge dismissed all but two counts -- conspiring to unlawful participation and official misconduct.
The judge's ruling did not contain any legal analysis; Brennan said earlier Tuesday that he would explain his reasoning in court Wednesday, when the bench trial is scheduled to continue on the remaining counts.
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday morning, and then the judge heard two hours of arguments on a motion for directed finding. The defense attorneys for Tepper and Mahmood both said the state had failed to meet its burden of proof, and that the charges should be dismissed.
"Is what Tepper did the best thing in the world? Absolutely not," his attorney, Terry Ekl, told the judge. "It's not an ideal situation, but it didn't violate the law."
Attorney Patrick Collins described Mahmood as "a techie from Pakistan" trying to establish his own business. He argued prosecutors failed to prove any intent to defraud by Mahmood.
"There's not a scintilla of evidence that he was doing anything wrong by entering into any of these contracts," Collins said.
But Assistant State's Attorney Ken Tatarelis said when Tepper and McDonald did private consulting for Mahmood's company, which was doing forest preserve work, they were double dipping. The prosecutor argued that the forest preserve could not have legally entered into some of its contracts with outside vendors had Tepper apprised them of his relationships.
Ward is a freelance reporter.
