July 9, 2010 |
City Zoning Investigator Sentenced to 31 Months for Bribery
CHICAGO – The City of Chicago Inspector General and the United States Attorney's Office announced that a City of Chicago Zoning Investigator was sentenced to 31 months in prison today to be followed by two years of supervised release as a result of his conviction for accepting a $500 bribe in exchange for providing a favorable zoning inspection report. Anthony Valentino, 67, of Chicago, will also be required to pay back $1,500 in government funds he received during the investigation and he will be assessed $100 in court fees. He will report to the Bureau of Prisons on September 7, 2010. He had been a city employee since 2001. On March 18, he was convicted by a jury on one count of bribery for taking bribes to overlook code violations.
The sentencing is part of an ongoing federal corruption investigation, code-named Operation Crooked Code. Through cooperation between Chicago's Inspector General Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The government was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Hotaling and Andrew Porter.
Anyone with information about alleged corruption in the city permit process is encouraged to contact the City Inspector General's Office either through its hotline - (866) 448-4754, or through its web site at www.chicagoinspectorgeneral.org.
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