The split verdict for Thomas Summers was announced after a weeklong trial before U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman. The jury deliberated for about four hours before reaching its decision.
Summers, the owner of Alsip-based Alsterda Cartage and Construction Co., could have faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the conspiracy charge. Instead, he could get as little as probation for lying to FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents during a 2016 interview.
Gettleman has not set a sentencing date.
“Tommy is grateful for the jury’s careful consideration of the bribery charge,” his lawyer, Douglas Whitney, said in a statement emailed to the Chicago Tribune. “He looks forward to putting this long, painful and unnecessary ordeal behind him.”
Summers was the second contractor to face trial in the alleged bribery scheme involving Webb, who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for prosecutors in exchange for leniency.
In May, a jury found Michael Jarigese and his company, Tower Contracting, guilty of 10 counts of wire fraud and federal program bribery for giving Webb nearly $100,000 in bribes to secure work from the impoverished south suburb.
Jarigese is awaiting sentencing.
According to the indictment against Summers, Alsterda Cartage and Construction was paid a total of $3.5 million by Markham for various projects between 2008 and 2017.
In that time period, Summers paid a total of $169,015 in cash to Webb as well as checks to KAT Remodeling, a shell company that Webb set up in his children’s names that he allegedly used to funnel bribes, the indictment alleged.
In some cases, Summers wrote in memo lines on the checks words such as “kitchen,” “office” or “Ford Truck” to make the payments seem legitimate, the indictment said.
The charges also alleged Summers lied when he told the FBI and IRS in a November 2016 interview that he was “not familiar” with KAT Remodeling and that a $33,000 check he’d written in 2011 was for remodeling work.
Webb’s guilty plea and testimony in both the Jarigese and Summers trials marked an unusual twist for a public corruption investigation. Typically it’s the contractors and other bribe payers who cooperate with the government and testify against the politicians who took the money.
Instead, Webb himself cooperated with prosecutors, pleading guilty to “honest services” wire fraud and the filing of a false tax return just weeks after his indictment in December 2017.
As part of his deal with prosecutors, Webb admitted he took a combined $300,000 from Jarigese, Summers and other contractors doing business with the city beginning in 2008. Webb testified in Jarigese’s trial that he spent the bribe money on “personal things,” including gambling trips to nearby casinos.
Federal guidelines call for Webb to be sentenced to between seven and nine years in prison, but prosecutors have said they’ll recommend that Gettleman give him about 4 ½ years behind bars in exchange for his cooperation.
Webb was first elected to lead the small suburb of about 12,000 residents in 2001 and declined to run for reelection in April 2017 amid the federal investigation.
Webb never needed more than 1,700 votes to win in Markham but raised more than $1 million in campaign contributions since 2000, making him one of the most prolific local political fundraisers in the state, records show.
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