Jones, 44, was charged in a criminal information released Tuesday with bribery and lying to the FBI. Jones, the son of former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., is the latest politician to be charged in the sweeping federal investigation focused on red-light cameras installed by SafeSpeed LLC, a once-heavyweight contract camera company to run red -Light cameras in nearly two dozen Chicago suburbs that generate millions of dollars in fines from motorists annually. Targeting illegal efforts to pave the way for the cameras, the investigation broke wide open in 2019 when agents raided the offices of then-Senator Martin Sandoval, who at the time headed the powerful state Senate Transportation Committee. In a statement Tuesday, the former Senate president defended his son. “The charges brought against my son, Emil Jones III, do not reflect the man he is,” Jones Jr. said. “Everyone knows he is an honest, hard-working legislator. I intend to fight with him and stand by him throughout this process.” Jones III’s trial is set for Friday. Defendants charged by criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment usually intend to plead guilty. Jones III, D-Acres Side, has served in the state Senate since 2009 and served on the same Transportation Committee as the late Sandoval. He did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday, and his attorney, Zeke Katz, did not respond to an email. Jones is running for re-election in November but is facing no challenger for the Senate seat. Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park said in a statement that he has requested and expects to “receive the resignation of Senator Jones from his leadership position and committee chairmanship.” “These are serious allegations,” Harmon said. “Members of the Senate and all public officials must uphold high ethical standards so that the public has confidence and faith in our work.” Jones’ salary as a senator is $72,906 a year. If he resigns his committee chairmanship, he will forgo an additional compensation of $11,098 a year. The timing of the charges is interesting, as the US Department of Justice has a general policy of not bringing charges against candidates within 60 days of an election. Jones is unopposed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The charges were also filed almost three years to the day raids on Sandoval’s offices and home. At the time, Democratic leaders did not immediately move to oust Sandoval from the transportation committee, citing a comment from Jones III. “You’re innocent until proven guilty,” Jones said at the time. “But I think, considering what the investigation is about, (Sandoval) should step down temporarily.” In February 2019, Jones introduced a bill in the Senate that would require the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a statewide study of automated traffic enforcement systems, including red-light cameras like those operated by SafeSpeed, according to with the six-page information. According to the charges, Jones agreed with SafeSpeed executive and co-founder Omar Maani — who was secretly cooperating with federal investigators — to “protect” SafeSpeed by limiting any traffic studies to the city of Chicago, excluding the suburbs where the company does much of its business. . In exchange, Jones got $5,000 in benefits and wanted work and additional payments for an unnamed associate, Atomic B, according to the charges. In August 2019, Jones told Maani that if he contributed $5,000 by sponsoring an event, “they shouldn’t report that contribution” on state campaign finance reports, according to the charges. Under the state’s campaign finance law, sponsorship of campaign events must be reported to election officials, said Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich. On September 24, 2019, the day of the FBI raid on Sandoval’s offices, Jones was interviewed by agents. According to the charges, he lied that he had not agreed to protect SafeSpeed in exchange for Maani’s hiring or paying Person B and had not discussed any plans with Maani to circumvent the campaign finance disclosures. Records from the Illinois General Assembly show Jones’ proposal was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on Nov. 19, 2019, which at the time was no longer chaired by Sandoval because he resigned as committee chair in October of that year amid federal research. Sandoval would eventually be indicted and plead guilty to bribery-related corruption charges, but died of complications from COVID-19 in December 2020 while working with the government. In Springfield, the Transportation Committee unanimously approved Jones’ legislation in less than three minutes — before Jones could even finish explaining what the bill did. In the full Senate, however, lawmakers did not vote for it or rejected it at the voting stage. The red-light camera investigation has so far ensnared more than a dozen politicians, political operatives and businessmen, many of whom either worked for SafeSpeed as consultants or had a direct influence on how much money the company could raise. Among them was former Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to participating in a kickback scheme with a mob-connected businessman and his stepsons that allegedly funneled thousands in cash payments to the mayor in exchange for cutting the suburban ticket. proceeds. Just as with Jones, the federal government charged Ragucci with fraudulent dealings with Maani in exchange for renewing the company’s annual contract with Oakbrook Terrace. Also charged was Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, who was sentenced in April to a year in federal prison after being caught on undercover FBI video taking what he thought was a $5,000 bribe from Maani. The investigation also led to the convictions of former state representative and longtime Worth Township Supervisor John O’Sullivan and his associate, Patrick Doherty, a Democratic political operative. Both O’Sullivan and Doherty have admitted their roles in a conspiracy to pay bribes to a relative of an Oak Lawn administrator in 2017 to install lucrative red-light cameras there. A spokesman for SafeSpeed had no immediate comment on Jones’ case. But the company and its president, Nikki Zollar, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying Maani operated without the company’s knowledge or approval. Maani is no longer associated with the company. “SafeSpeed’s goal has always been to provide a service that helps save lives,” the company said in a statement earlier this year. “As new developments in the federal investigations come to light, SafeSpeed remains shocked and saddened that one of its former colleagues engaged in criminal conduct and recruited outside individuals to help advance his self-serving activities. Their actions were clearly self-interested and unbeknownst to SafeSpeed and undermined the important work that SafeSpeed does.” Jones is the ninth recent member of the Illinois General Assembly to be charged with federal crimes in the past several years. That list includes five of Jones’ former Senate colleagues — Sandoval, Thomas Cullerton, Terry Link, Annazette Collins and Sam McCann — as well as Madigan and former state Reps. Luis Arroyo, Eddie Acevedo.
Afternoon briefing
Daily Top stories from Chicago Tribune editors, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. The Tribune also reported that two other Democrats — state Sen. Elgie Sims of Chicago and state Rep. Thaddeus Jones of Calumet City — are under federal investigation. With the November elections seven weeks away, Republican leaders in the state Senate and House have lashed out at the latest Democrat to be indicted. “Even in a post-Madigan era, Illinois continues to have a problem of systemic corruption — a problem that Democrats continue to allow,” Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods said of Democrats who declined to consider a series ethics and anti-corruption. reforms GOP lawmakers want to pass. Dan Petrella of the Chicago Tribune contributed. [email protected] [email protected]
