Presta’s campaign amended his election state finance reports, to show a $5,000 in-kind contribution from Omar Manni that was to be used for “incidentals during the campaign” in March 2018. Omar Maani was a co-founder of SafeSpeed and no longer has any affiliation with the company.
Thomas Breen, Presta’s lawyer didn’t explain why the campaign filing was made two years after the cash was received. He claims that the funds “certainly was not used to influence the mayor’s position on any issue that affected the village.”
The red-light ticket camera story was reported in the Chicago papers earlier this year with the arrest of former state Sen. Martin Sandoval, the former chair of the Senate Transportation Committee who pleaded guilty to taking $250,000 in bribes from an associate of SafeSpeed, whom he named in court.
SafeSpeed has since issued a statement following cease and desist letters to the Tribune Publishing Company, the Chicago Tribune, and their reporters, regarding their reporting on the Sandoval bribery case.
