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Former Sen. Tom Cullerton sentenced to year in prison

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Illinois

* Jon Seidel…

A federal judge has sentenced former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton to a year in prison in the $248,000 embezzlement case involving the Teamsters labor union that ended Cullerton’s career in Springfield.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said, “It gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cullerton, to take you away from your family.” But prosecutors argued Tuesday that Cullerton thought his elected office entitled him to a do-nothing Teamsters job, and the judge said he took that breach of trust seriously.

He told Cullerton that, “We’ve had far too many public officials appear in this court as felons.”

“Every time you took that paycheck from the Teamsters without working for it, you knew that you were doing something wrong,” Gettleman said while handing down the sentence. […]

In making their recommendation, [prosecutors] revealed that former Chicago Teamsters boss John T. Coli told them Cullerton was hired for his Teamsters job as a favor to a senator only identified in court records as “Senator A.”

* Jason Meisner at the Tribune…

Before the sentence was handed down, Cullerton apologized to the court, his family, his constituents and his former colleagues at the Teamsters.

“I’m not going to say I didn’t take advantage of the situation, I did,” Cullerton said, reading from written remarks and pausing at times to clear his throat and sniff back tears. “I can’t take back what I did, nor can I apologize enough.”

Cullerton, 52, a Democrat from Villa Park, pleaded guilty to embezzlement in March, two weeks after abruptly resigning from office. Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, while his attorneys requested a period of probation. […]

In asking Gettleman to sentence Cullerton to up to a year and a half in prison, prosecutors said in a court filing earlier this month that former Teamsters boss John Coli Sr. told investigators he’d hired Cullerton to his do-nothing position “as a favor to Senator A, at Senator A’s request.”

“Senator A” has not yet been publicly identified.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:24 pm

Comments

Senator A! Intriguing…

I’m surprised the Tribune mentioned that Cullerton is a Democrat.

Comment by Arthur from Arthur Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:34 pm
Another One Bites The Dust

Comment by Freddie Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:53 pm
Hey Arthur - your persecution complex is showing.

Comment by The Way I See It Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:54 pm
It would be a small pool of Senators who would have the juice to get Coli to feel it was worth it to do the favor.

Comment by Galway Bay Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:55 pm
I think with the missing of “and a day”, that makes this a full year, no reduction.

I think Sandi Jackson also had the year, less the “and a day” sentence, as where that 85% kicks in.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 12:58 pm
I stand corrected…

===CHICAGO (CBS) — Former Ald. Sandi Jackson has been released from a minimum security federal prison camp in West Virginia, after serving nearly 11 months of a one-year sentence for filing a false federal income tax return.===

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 1:00 pm
Send this conviction to the folks at GARS to forfeit his pension

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 2:02 pm
Sometime in September I will expect to be flooded with flyers of JB, Mike, and Tom. I’m sure they will be in a group hug, presumably in a clumsily altered way.

Comment by Lurker Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 2:21 pm
GARS would respond that he did not take the GA pension, but feel free to forward.

Comment by Elgin Bob Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 3:17 pm
Trib article says 8 members of the General Assembly indicted during the same time as Fullerton.
The word “swamp” doesn’t do that situation justice.
How does that statistic compare to the general public under federal indictment at any given time?

Comment by Sjorvs Tuesday, Jun 21, 22 @ 6:41 pm