Alderman busted
The knock on the door came early Monday for Ald. Arenda Troutman, but she didn't answer.
So FBI agents holding a warrant for Troutman's arrest on bribery charges broke a window to get in.
When they entered the alderman's South Side home, her document shredder was warm, a source said.
(Sun-Times)
Troutman, 49, was caught on video and on a wire talking frankly about taking bribes and other misdeeds, authorities said.
"Well the thing is, most aldermen, most politicians are ho's," Troutman allegedly said. At another point, court documents indicate, she boldly asked of a potential developer, "What do I get out of it?"
She is the first sitting Chicago alderman to be brought up on federal charges since the late 1990s.
Wearing a black-and-white checkered hat and velvet jumpsuit and looking worn, Troutman mumbled "no comment" as she walked out of a federal courtroom. She was released on a $10,000 recognizance bond. Her lawyer, Sam Adam Jr., blasted the charges.
"The charges that lie herein that she actually accepted money for a bribe are false. Not true, never happened. Did not occur," Adam said. "U.S. Attorney [Patrick] Fitzgerald is a good man. He just has the wrong person this time."
Troutman will plead not guilty, Adam said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro described Troutman's words on tape as "colorful" and mockingly called her case a "civics lesson" in how things were done in the 20th Ward.
"You want the alderman's support? You pay the alderman, you pay Arenda Troutman," Shapiro said. "And best of all, in the 20th Ward, everything's negotiable."
Troutman is charged with taking $5,000 in cash -- with the expectation of another $10,000, along with $5,000 in campaign contributions -- in return for helping a "developer" convert 5730 S. Halsted into a mixed-use development. The developer actually was fictitious, and the go-between negotiating the deal was wearing a wire. Troutman also allegedly asked for a residential unit in that development in exchange for her help in getting the deal off the ground.
That was the alleged scheme she was charged in.
She also was accused in court documents of shaking down another developer for $12,000 in 2003. That developer paid up but later approached agents to cooperate against Troutman. She has not been charged in that matter, but authorities indicated more charges are possible.
The person who wore the wire in the Halsted matter began cooperating against Troutman while being investigated for mortgage fraud, authorities said. The person told investigators about alleged crooked dealings they were involved in, so agents wired up the cooperating witness and set up a phony deal to see if Troutman would take the bait, authorities said.
After a day of executing search warrants, agents seized a computer and printer from her home on the 6500 block of South Kimbark, and about 20 boxes of material from her aldermanic office, which also is her campaign office. They also interviewed a woman later identified as Troutman's sister Faye at the office, located on the 5800 block of South State.
It's unclear what was found in Monday's raids, but court documents make reference to thousands of dollars in cash being stashed, at one point, in a shoebox in Troutman's basement.
A canine unit was brought inside the house to look for drug evidence. There were no drug charges, but the person Troutman allegedly took the $12,000 from made his money through drugs, according to charges. That 36-year-old man was arrested in 2003 on drug and weapon charges. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. The man holds a business license for a beauty shop on the same block as Troutman's ward office.
Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant defended his agents' breaking into Troutman's home, saying she refused to answer despite repeated calls. An agent slashed his hand breaking the window, leaving droplets of blood on Troutman's front steps.
Troutman told agents that she was slow to get to the door because she had two children inside. Agents questioned that upon feeling the warm shredder, a source said.
Grant said the charges highlight the immense power alderman wield and the temptations they face to take cash under the table.
"In this case I think Ald. Troutman took great advantage of her position," Grant said.
Aldermen have tremendous sway over what gets built or renovated in their wards.
No charges were tied to Troutman's ties to fugitive Donnell "Scandalous" Jehan, a reputed Black Disciples street gang leader. In 2004, the FBI questioned Troutman about those alleged ties.
Troutman also came under scrutiny because of a family member doing business in the Hired Truck Program -- despite rules restricting relatives of city officials getting city business.
Troutman, who holds a political science degree from Southern Illinois University and whose father was a 20th Ward precinct captain, was appointed by Mayor Daley in 1990. She will not lose her Council seat -- unless she is convicted.
Contributing: Frank Main, Steve Warmbir, Art Golab and Tim Novak