Government officials criticize the 5-year sentence given to former mayor from Chicagoland for extortion conviction

Cooperation might get the former mayor of Chicago suburb McCook a leaner prison sentence, but federal prosecutors didn’t spare harsh words in their summation of Jeff Tobolski’s crimes.

“Tobolski was an elected official who put personal profit over his constituent’s interests,” Assistant U.S. Attorney TIffany Ardam wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He “regularly employed corrupt tactics to extort money or solicit bribes from anyone doing business in McCook or Cook County.”

Ardam described Tobolski as an “entitled” person who engaged in an ” aggressive and persistent cash grab to enrich himself.”  Prosecutors say he agreed to accept more than $250,000 in bribes and extortion payments.

Tobolski served as mayor of McCook and a Cook County commissioner before abruptly resigning sooner after the FBI raided his suburban offices in 2020.

affiliate WGN first revealed Tobolski was the target of an FBI probe in 2019.

He pled guilty in the extortion and bribery case and agreed to cooperate with a wide-ranging federal investigation.  The probe ensnared McCook’s police chief and Tobolski’s former chief of staff. 

Tobolski is also accused of holding up payments to a red-light camera company operating in McCook when one of its executives stopped giving him cash kickbacks. 

“He has ordered individuals to “show their appreciation” for him by giving him cash as repayment for their business with McCook,” prosecutors wrote.

They say he felt taken advantage of when a businessman stopped paying for trips for Tobolski “prolonged, calculated and deliberate corrupt conduct” that went on for years.

Prosecutors said they factored in Tobolski’s cooperation when seeking a prison sentence of five years and five months, about half of the maximum time he could have faced.