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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| Despite tearful plea, ex-Ald. Troutman gets 4 years | |
| 2009-02-18 | |
| Former Ald. Arenda Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison today for mail and tax fraud. Troutman admitted that for several years she had solicited cash from developers to back their projects in her South Side ward. The sentence was handed down after Troutman tearfully told the judge that she's not "a monster" as portrayed by prosecutors who said she accepted bribes and fraternized with gang members. Nope. She's just a Chicago alderman... She asked for leniency so she could remain with her three sons. "This society is real cruel to young black boys who don't have instruction and guidance," she said. "They'll get swallowed up in the belly of the beast." And what instruction and guidance would you offer them, Arenda? Don't get caught? U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo said he believed that Troutman is a good mother to her sons and a good daughter to her ailing mother but described her as "a walking contradiction." He noted that Troutman had once worked with the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington but wouldn't be joining him in the local political Hall of Fame. "Instead you join the Hall of Shame of politicians who sold their offices," Castillo said.
Troutman's lawyer, Michael Gillespie, said she accepted full responsibility. "She is terribly humbled and saddened by what she has done to constituents in her ward," he said. Not enough to do her time quietly ... The former alderwoman had about 30 supporters in the courtroom. Moments after the judge handed down the prison sentence, Troutman was seated at defense table with supporters huddled around her in what appeared to be a prayer circle. She remained free on bail pending appeal. After she was charged with corruption in early 2007, Troutman, the alderman of the 20th Ward, defiantly denied wrongdoing and suggested she had been targeted for political reasons. "Folk in my community understand there can be false allegations when there is someone who is the voice of the people," Troutman told the Tribune at the time. But in August a subdued Troutman admitted that prosecutors had been right after all and that for several years she had solicited cash from developers to back projects in her ward. Troutman is the 12th Chicago alderman convicted of wrongdoing in the last 20 years, but the first since Percy Giles (37th) in 1999. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Any idea what party she belongs to? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-02-18 09:44 |
| #3 Motherly photograph at linkie. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-18 08:19 |
| #2 She got prosecuted and convicted? Jeebus, I didn't think anything was illegal in Chicago politics. Maybe there is some hope for Chicago. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-02-18 07:52 |
| #1 she blocked low-income housing because no one involved would pay her a bribe Sounds more like a typical heartless Chinese official...thanks for bringing that into America, Troutman. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-18 01:04 |