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John Bills, 55,
was convicted in January on every charge he faced connected to
the scheme, including mail fraud, wire fraud, filing false tax
returns and bribery.
In addition to the 10-year sentence, U.S. District Judge
Virginia Kendall ordered Bills to make more than $2 million in
restitution payments, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office
for the Northern District of Illinois.
According to the Chicago Tribune newspaper, Bills told the judge
before sentencing that he committed "immoral" acts and had a
"broken moral compass," but denied being a power broker.
"I was a mid-level manager who was directed by my superiors and
given a responsibility that I obviously wasn't prepared for,"
Bills told the court, according to the Tribune.
Bills, a former assistant transportation commissioner, helped
obtain millions of dollars in contracts for Phoenix-based
Redflex Traffic Systems, part of Redflex Holdings Ltd.
In exchange for his efforts that resulted in the installation of
hundreds of red-light cameras at intersections, Bills received
cash, golf outings, hotel rooms and airline tickets, the jury
found.
The unpopular $100 tickets for red light camera violations
became a hot issue in the 2015 mayoral election, which was won
by incumbent Rahm Emanuel.
Some of the benefits were given directly to Bills, while some
came through a friend, Martin O'Malley, a former Redflex
contractor who testified against Bills at the two-week trial and
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.
O'Malley testified at trial that he often stuffed lavish bonuses
into envelopes and gave them to Bills in Chicago restaurants.
A unit of Xerox Corp now runs the city's traffic camera system.
Bills retired from his city job in 2011.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by
Matthew Lewis)
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