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TezakContinued from Page A-1ing the agency for alleged steering of padded contracts to political insiders. The building burned three days before cartons of subpoenaed records were to be given to the Internal Revenue Service.During a 1993 court hearing at which he pleaded guilty to the bowling alley arson, Tezak admitted to arranging the Joliet fire. Federal prosecutors did not file charges against Tezak after that admission, but a Will County grand jury indicted him Nov. 1 in the Private Industry Council fire.Tezak has never publicly explained his motive for arranging the Joliet blaze. He did not testify during his recent trial. But state prosecutors allegedduring the trial that he wantedto destroy the subpoenaed records and collect insurance coverage on the building.Grabiec on Friday ordered Tezak to pay $936,688 in restitution to two insurance companies and the owner of a furniture warehouse that also was damaged in the blaze. Tezak has five years from the date of his release from prison to make restitution.Tezak reportedly made about $40 million from marketing the card game Uno but is now bankrupt, according to his attorney, Douglas Roller, who said he was“basically pleased” with the sentence. Roller had argued that Tezak deserved leniency because his cocaine addiction drove him to a profligate lifestyle.State’s Attorney James Glasgow expressed satisfaction with the sentence. He said Tezak belonged in prison for a long time because he was “at heart an inherently evil man” who as a county Republican Party power “felt he could get away with anything.”In announcing the sentence, Grabiec said he disregarded as not credible sensational testimony by Kenneth Floyd, a convicted felon and paid federal informant, during Tezak’s sentencing hearing.Floyd testified that Tezak had solicited the murder of a Democratic congressional candidate in 1986. Tezak was never charged in any such plot.Grabiec said he found compelling the testimony of Melissa Bianco at Tezak’s sentencing hearing. Bianco, the daughter of a friend of Tezak’s, said Tezak supplied her with cocaine nine years ago when she was 19, leading to her addiction, and later solicited her to purchase large quantities of the drug.Tezak has 30 days to appeal his conviction for the Joliet fire. Roller said a decision has yet to be made.Tezak is being held at the Will County Jail awaiting transport back to federal prison in Arizona.
Newspaper Details
Crete Star
Crete, Illinois, US
Sun, Jul 07, 1996
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
AZ, USA 28 Jan 2020
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