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★ A-4 CUPContinuedThe Star • Thursday. October 28, 1993v^ilt;KylsmmKmwas made last August, according to testimony.Continued from Page A-1room in Chicago clad in a dark blue jail jumpsuit with his hair cropped short.He quietly pleaded guilty to charges that he hired others to torch a bowling alley he owned in order to collect insurance money and threatened to kill his former daughter-in-law and ex-lover if she dared testify against him in court.I he maximum penalty Tezak faces is 20 years in prison, $750,000 in fines, a term of supervised release and any restitution ordered by the court.The 45-year-old Tezak will be sentenced March 4 by U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen.As part of the plea agreement, the government will dismiss charges that Tezak conspired to burn down a Joliet building he owned, but Tezak admitted his guilt in that incident.Attorney Dan Webb, a member of Tezak’s defense team, said he will try toget his client released on bond.Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center has been home to Tezak since Sept. 3 when he was jailed for threatening to kill Leber. Bond was denied Sept. 29 after Tezak admitted that he had a cocaineproblem.In his plea agreement, Tezak admittedthat he paid others to torch the unprofitable Galaxy Bowl in Crest Hill in an attempt to collect some $1 million on the fire insurance policy. The building was damaged but not destroyed by an August1987 blaze.Tezak also pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his death threat against 25-year-old Nikki Leber, his formerdaughter-in-law and ex-lover with whom he had an 8-year affair.When he discovered that Leber was cooperating with government investigators and might testify against him in court, Tezak relayed a death threat to Leber and threatened to kill her family in an attempt to scare her out of cooperating with the government probe, officials said.The threat against Leber and her familyLeber told authorities she had shared cocaine with Tezak, including occasions after his indictment last year, officials said.Tezak admitted, but did not plead guilty to, hiring others to set afire a building he owned in downtown Joliet. The blaze destroyed the structure that housed the federally funded Will County Private Industry Council and the Will County Center for Community Concern.He had that building torched in December 1987, according to information in the plea agreement, to collect insurance money and to destroy records kept there that were wanted by a federal grand jury as part of an investigation of others.Tezak. a funeral director, served three terms as Will County coroner, a post to which he was first elected to in 1976.He made millions of dollars after acquiring the rights to the LINO card gamein 1972.Tezak also owns several radio stations and is involved in auto racing.
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Crete Star
Crete, Illinois, US
Thu, Oct 28, 1993
Page 4
Full Page
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AZ, USA 28 Jan 2020
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