Illinois Mayor Louis Presta latest charged in red-light camera scandal

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“The story falsely asserted that Sandoval was bribed ‘$70,000 from clout-heavy SafeSpeed for acting as its ‘protector’ in the State Senate.’ … The money paid to Sandoval was provided by the government as part of a government sting, unbeknownst to SafeSpeed.”

In March, there were multiple related indictments of bribery and political corruption involving local officials. Cook County Commissioner Jeffery Tobolski resigned and has not been charged with any crime. His chief of staff, Patrick Doherty, was charged with bribery.

Bill Helm, a former top Illinois Department of Transportation official, was charged with allegedly paying Sandoval to get his support for a construction project.

Both Helm and Doherty worked as paid sales representatives for the red-light camera company SafeSpeed while on the city payroll, the Chicago Sun-Times has reported.

Chicago-based SafeSpeed continues to deny any wrongdoing. SafeSpeed is the biggest red-light camera vendor in Illinois. Despite the federal corruption investigation SafeSpeed received a Paycheck Protection Program federal loan of $1 million.