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Tezak returns to court FridayBy Tamara SharmanFormer Will County Coroner Robert Tezak is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday as a sentencing hearing resumes into his admitted role in an arson-for-profit scheme.The hearing resumes at 9:30 a.m., said Barbara Lazarus, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It will be in the Dirk-sen Federal Building in Chicago.U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen recessed the hearing fromMay 16.Testimony from that first day of Tezak’s sentencing hearing was stopped in the late afternoon to allow Andersen to turn his attention and courtroom over to an unrelated case in which a jury had just reached a verdict.The delay also gave Tezak’s defense attorneys time to prepare to cross-examine a potentially damaging witness.On Friday the defense team is expected to turn its attentions to Sheldon Shannon.He testified on May 16 that Tezak asked him to arrange the murder of a co-conspirator and possible witness against Tezak while Shannon and the former coroner were housed in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in October 1993.Tezak remains in federal custody at the MCC.Defense Attorney Dan Webb called Shannon’s story “preposterous.According to testimony, Tezak asked Shannon to arrange the murder of former labor official Kenneth Floyd, a partner in Tezak’s 1987 arson scheme. Tezak believed Floyd was preventing him from being released on bond, according to testimony.Tezak later withdrew his invitation to kill Floyd but paid Shannon $1,000 for his aborted planning efforts, Shannon said.According to testimony from other sources on May 16, Tezak also allegedly shook down a widow for insurance money and threatened a local tax activist.In October 1993 Tezak pleadedguilty to hiring others to torch an unprofitable bowling alley he owned in Crest Hill so he couldcollect the insurance money. He also pleaded guilty to charges that he threatened to kill Nikki Leber, his former daughter-in-law and, allegedly, his ex-lover, if she testified against him.Tezak faces a maximum ofabout 19 years in prison, restitution, fines and a term of supervised release.As part of a plea agreement, the government will dismiss chargesthat l’ezak hired others to set fire to a downtown Joliet building he owned and which housed the Will County Private Industry Council. Tezak admitted, but did not plead guilty to, having the buildingtorched in 1987 to collect insurance money and to destroy records wanted by a federal grand jury as part of an investigation of others.Funeral director Tezak, once an influential and powerful force in Will County and Illinois Republican politics, served three terms as coroner after being elected in 1976. He became a millionaire after gaining the rights to the Uno card game.Tezak, his wife and several of their companies have declared bankruptcy.Fu n eralA Guide to AreaBrown Funeral Home13820 Lincoln Ave Dolton, IL 708-849-5450ColonialChapel15525 73rd, Ave. Or land Park 1L
Newspaper Details
Frankfort Star
Frankfort, Illinois, US
Thu, Jun 23, 1994
Page 14
Full Page
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AZ, USA 29 Jan 2020
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