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Newsw vv//V^. v • 'V/v y v,v\'Iy\ .y. ■,* VAy.*m •,*!-* lt;y r. » • «.a; tAhJt•v w/y.v w//y/.vA. ,-vEx-coroner to stay in jailBy Tamara SharmanFormer Will County CoronerRobert Tezak will stay in custody until he is sentenced to a federal prison,U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen Tuesday denied Tezak’s release on bond in an arson case.Tezak was once a powerhouse in Will County Republican politics.Andersen said that multimillionaire Tezak has sufficient financial assets to make him a flight risk, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean Polales and Steven Popuch, a member of Tezak’s defense team of several lawyers.“This was one case where Bobby’s wealth worked against him,” Popuch commented on the judge’s belief that Tezak might flee if he were released on bond.“We were hopeful, but not optimistic, that he would be released,” Popuch said.Tezak has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since Sept. 3 when his bond was revoked and he was taken into custody for threatening to kill Nikki Leber, his former daughter-in-law and ex-lover.Bond was denied Sept. 29 after Tezak admitted he had a cocaine problem.Andersen described his decision to deny Tezak’s release on bond as difficult, but he said he believed Tezak could be a danger to the community, Polales said.“It’s a decision the government views as clearly correct,” Polales said.Tezak pleaded guilty Oct. 25 to charges that he hired others to torch a Crest Hill bowling alley he owned to collect insurance money and that he threatened to kill Leber in an attempt to sway thewoman from testifying againsthim in court.Tezak also admitted his role in conspiring to burn down a Joliet building he owned to stymie a federal investigation and collect the insurance money, but the government will dismiss those charges as part of a plea agreement.Tezak is scheduled to be sentenced March 4, but in the wake ofAndersen’s bond ruling the defense will ask for an earlier sentencing date, Popuch said.T he 45-year-old former coroner faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, $750,000 in fines, a term of supervised release and any restitution ordered by the court.Tezak, a tuneral director, was elected Will County coroner in 1976 and served three terms. He made his fortune after acquiring the rights to the UNO card game, which he later sold.
Newspaper Details
New Lenox Star
New Lenox, Illinois, US
Thu, Nov 11, 1993
Page 14
Full Page
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AZ, USA 29 Jan 2020
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