*A top police official in Illinois, Dolton Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacey, has been indicted on federal charges of bankruptcy fraud and other offenses.
The New York Post reports that Lacey is accused of hiding assets and underreporting income to avoid paying a settlement from a previous lawsuit. The indictment comes amid ongoing controversies involving Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, a close ally of Lacey. Despite being placed on administrative leave by village trustees, Lacey reportedly continued to report to work.
“The indictment alleges that Lacey made several materially false and fraudulent representations in oral statements and documents submitted in the bankruptcy cases, including underreporting his monthly income and concealing bank accounts that he controlled,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced.
“Among other things, Lacey falsely represented that he was separated from his spouse and that she did not reside with him or contribute to his monthly income and mortgage,” the indictment states. “The false representations allowed Lacey to fraudulently calculate his monthly income for purposes of repayment of his creditors as substantially less than it should have been if his spouse’s contributions were included, the indictment states.”
A federal grand jury has charged Lewis Lacey, the acting police deputy chief in Dolton, with bankruptcy fraud charges in connection with an alleged scheme to conceal assets and income from creditors and prevent payment of the settlement of a lawsuit.https://t.co/DgExBo9eCH
— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) August 12, 2024
While engaged in the alleged fraud scheme, Lacey was serving as an officer with the Dolton Police Department.
According to the indictment, Lacey since the 1980s has filed numerous personal bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including petitions in 2019 and 2020, that “prevented the courts from enforcing a settlement agreement reached between Lacey, the defendant and the plaintiff in the 2017 lawsuit in which he still owed $43,000 out of a $55,000 payment, prosecutors said,” per The Post
The nine-count indictment is seen by Lacey’s lawyer as an attempt to pressure him into providing information against Henyard, who is also under federal investigation.
Since taking office in 2021, Henyard has been at the center of ongoing controversy throughout the past year.
Lacey’s attorney contends that federal authorities are primarily targeting Lacey to strengthen a criminal case against Henyard.
“They’re going after certain people in the village to see who’s gonna turn on the mayor,” Lawyer Gal Pissetzky told The Post.
Lacey faces decades in prison if convicted on all charges.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Lori Lightfoot Hired to Investigate Fraud Allegations Against ‘Dolton Dictator’ Mayor Tiffany Henyard
