Thread: I-TEAM: GEORGE RYAN'S JOURNEY FROM GOVERNOR TO PRISON

2013 article on 1993 incident. Added for archive.
I-TEAM: GEORGE RYAN'S JOURNEY FROM GOVERNOR TO PRISON
January 30, 2013 7:22:37 PM PST
By Chuck Goudie
January 30, 2013 (CHICAGO) --

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan will serve the rest of his sentence for corruption at home and was said to be surrounded by his grandchildren Wednesday afternoon.For 78-year-old Ryan, this is a story that began nearly 20-years ago.

When George Ryan was Illinois Secretary of State in 1994, a truck driver who illegally obtained his commercial license, killed six children in a blazing crash.

"The depth of the pain is indescribable," the victims' father Reverend Scott Willis said.

Four years later, Ryan was running for governor when the ABC7 ITeam revealed that the driver of the truck had bought the license through a scandal of selling commercial drivers licenses in exchange for bribes to employees of the Secretary of State's office.

"Was I involved in selling drivers' licenses to people illegally? Hell no I wasn't. Would I have tolerated it? Hell no," then Governor Ryan said in 2000.

He was convicted three years later while governor with 18 counts of federal corruption in the U.S.
Department of Justice's Operation Safe Roads.

Joe Power, an attorney who represented the Willis family, spoke to them Tuesday night.

What does the family think of Ryan's release?

"Well, his day of reckoning will also come later, and it's up to him, not to them. They're praying for him.

But he's the one who has to be accountable for what occurred, and it's not a question of them forgiving, ultimately there's someone upstairs who's gonna make that decision on forgiveness or not," Power said.
So far Ryan has been unsuccessful in his appeal, led by his attorney, former Illinois governor and friend, Jim Thompson.

While serving five and a half years in a federal Terre Haute, Ind. prison, Ryan's wife and brother died.
Ryan is nearly 80 years old, no longer has a state pension and says he is penniless.

"He's an old timer he'll get along," Thompson said. "He's led a long productive life. People forget sometimes apart from all the issues that led him to his conviction he was in many respects a very good governor."

Seventy-five people were prosecuted in Operation Safe Roads, including more than 30 public officials and employees.

At least nine people were killed by truckers who illegally obtained their Illinois commercial licenses.

http://abc7chicago.com/archive/8974415/

Background.

Fake Driver's License Operation Busted


March 10, 1993|
By Robert Enstad.

Authorities said Tuesday they have broken a bribery ring responsible for hundreds of phony driver's licenses being issued from the Illinois secretary of state's office in Libertyville.

Secretary of State George Ryan said 650 fraudulent Illinois driver's licenses were issued through the Libertyville facility from July through November of last year. Hundreds more probably have been issued since then with payoffs probably amounting to as much as $1 million, Ryan said.



He said most of the recipients of the phony Illinois driver's licenses were illegal aliens who paid from $650 to $1,000 each in bribes and used bogus Social Security and Resident Alien Cards, which cost them another $200, to obtain the licenses.
Four people, including one driver's license examiner at the Libertyville licensing facility, have been arrested in connection with the alleged scheme. Ryan said more arrests are anticipated before the end of the week.

"We will let the chips fall where they may," Ryan said. "This will not be tolerated."

Ryan and Lake County State's Atty. Michael Waller announced the arrests and detailed the investigation that led to the charges at a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Waukegan.

Ryan said the seven-month investigation by local, state and federal authorities started with a tip from one of 13 employees at the Libertyville facility, which is located on Peterson Road. "We felt action was necessary to end the illegal activity going on at the Libertyville station," Ryan said.

Waller said the four people arrested in the on-going investigation are:

- Arvin Walters, 46, of 1827 Jethro Ave., Zion, a driver's license examiner at Libertyville. He was arrested late Monday on charges of bribery, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit bribery.

- Jose Luis Fuentes, 23, of 1710 Golf Rd., Waukegan, who was charged with forgery, bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to an undercover agent. Fuentes is alleged to have produced and sold the phony Social Security and Resident Alien Cards for $200 each. The cards were then used, Ryan said, as the two forms of identification needed to obtain an Illinois driver's license.

- Michaelangelo Prato, 61, of Norridge, and Peter M. Prato, 32, of Aurora, who were both charged with bribery. Waller said the two operate the Roma Driving School in Chicago, which allegedly steered illegal aliens from Chicago to Libertyville to obtain the fraudulent licenses.

Ryan said the Pratos, Walters and others allegedly shared in the $650 to $1,000 in bribe money that was paid to obtain each fraudulent license.

The secretary of state said the investigation involved undercover agents going to Libertyville and using phony identification and payoffs to obtain licenses.

"The investigation of public corruption at the driver's license facility in Libertyville has involved lots of people and hundreds and hundreds of man hours," Ryan said.


Waller said people who possess the fraudulent driver's licenses could face a prison sentence of up to seven years if they are caught. It was determined that 650 fraudulent licenses were issued in Libertyville during five months of last year by checking the numbers on Social Security cards used as identification, the state's attorney said.

"Most of these fraudulent driver's licenses were issued to illegal aliens and others who would not normally be entitled to get the license," Waller said.

Ryan said a driver's license carries a high value to illegal aliens because it helps them obtain jobs.

The Libertyville station is one of a number of driver's license facilities that Ryan's office operates in the Chicago area.
Waller said investigators believe the illegal activities had continued until the arrests this week.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1...llinois-driver