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A top Illinois village police official and close ally of “Dolton Dictator” Mayor Tiffany Henyard was indicted on federal charges Monday — though his lawyer argued the new criminal case was only brought in hopes his client turns on the embattled municipal leader.
Dolton Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacey was hit with a nine-count indictment for bankruptcy fraud and other charges after he was accused of scheming to hide assets and income to trick creditors and avoid paying a settlement tied to a past lawsuit, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced.
Lacey, 61, has filed several personal bankruptcy cases in the state, including in 2019 and 2020 that prevented the courts from enforcing a settlement agreement reached between Lacey, the defendant and the plaintiff in the 2017 lawsuit in which he still owed $43,000 out of $55,000 payment, prosecutors said.
Lacey allegedly made false claims verbally and in documents he submitted, including underreporting his monthly income and hiding bank accounts.
He also falsely claimed he was separated from his spouse and she didn’t contribute to the amount of money brought into the home each month, which allowed him to lowball his monthly income so he didn’t need to pay creditors as much, the feds alleged.
Lacey is a well-known supporter of Henyard, who took office in 2021 and has been the focus of endless controversy over the past year.
Trustees fighting back against Henyard placed Lacey on administrative leave last week, though a lawyer representing the board, Burt Odelson, told the Chicago Tribune he still kept reporting to work.
The mayor, the village and the nearby township where Henyard is also supervisor were issued subpoenas earlier this year for a trove of documents and financial records as part of a federal probe.
Henyard, who has been called a dictator by some locals, has faced accusations of misusing taxpayer funds and using the police department for personal business.
While Lacey’s criminal case on Monday is not connected to village business, his attorney claimed his close connection to Henyard is the reason he was indicted. The acting police chief has been accused of going after the mayor’s detractors.
Lawyer Gal Pissetzky told The Post the US attorney’s actions are part of a “bigger plan by the government to try to indict the mayor of Dolton” and his client was innocent of the charges.
The feds only want to use Lacey to help build up a criminal case against Henyard, he claimed.
“They’re going after certain people in the village to see who’s gonna turn on the mayor,” Pissetzky insisted.
Lacey was charged as part of ongoing federal probe, the US Attorney’s Office said. He could spend decades in prison if convicted on all charges.
‘They’re going after certain people in the village to see who’s gonna turn on the mayor’
Defense lawyer Gal Pissetzky
Lacey, who acted as a bodyguard for Henyard during an event in February and even blocked a Post photographer from snapping photos of the Dolton leader, is also facing charges of making false statements and declarations in a bankruptcy case and perjury.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was hired to probe the village’s spending, revealed last week that police costs jumped 21% since the village fiscal year 2022 with police overtime jumping hundreds of thousands of dollars during that span.
Lacey received more than $200,000 in overtime since the village’s fiscal year 2022 even though he hasn’t been part of the village’s collective bargaining agreement for some time, Lightfoot said as she unveiled the high-spending in Dolton to the gasps of residents.
A longtime aide to Henyard, Keith Freeman, was slapped with similar charges earlier this year that he’s pleaded not guilty to.
While Henyard said at a meeting last week that Freeman was fired as village administrator, the trustees said she lacked authority to make that decision and didn’t support the termination, according to the Tribune.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago
