Story posted Friday, June 26, 2009
Sentencing of Ex-Niles Mayor Delayed Yet Again
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
Former long-time Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase will spend Independence Day a free man as his sentencing hearing on corruption charges was continued for a fourth time today (Friday), June 26.
Blase's co-defendant Stephen Weiner, president of Ralph Weiner and Associates (RWA), pled guilty to one count of mail fraud for his part in the federal corruption case last Wednesday, June 24.
RWA is an insurance company once located in Niles, now located in Wheeling.
United States Attorney's spokesman Randal Sanborn said Weiner pled guilty without being offered a plea deal. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Weiner's attorney, Jeff Steinback, said his client accepted full responsibility for his “limited role in a broader arrangement” that predated his client's 1974 start with the company. Company founder Ralph Weiner died in 2005.
Steinback said Stephen Weiner has and will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation.
Sanborn said the continuance in the Blase case was at the request of both prosecutors and defense attorneys but would not give any further explanation.
Friday morning, Federal Judge Wayne Andersen said he had no reason to deny the prosecutor's request to delay Blase's sentencing though he was anxious to see the case concluded.
Andersen said a new date could be scheduled for Blase's sentencing as soon as Monday, June 29.
Andersen will be going out of town for three weeks and said the hearing would not likely be scheduled for at least one month if not more.
The 80-year-old Blase pled guilty to two counts of mail fraud from an 11-count indictment last October shortly after resigning from a 47-year tenure as Niles mayor.
Prosecutors said Blase used his office to steer businesses wishing to operate in Niles to RWA to purchase required business insurance.
Blase received $421,450 in kickbacks from RWA through a shell company controlled by Blase over a period from 1997 to 2006, according to federal court records.
Blase's relationship with RWA dates back to 1974, according to prosecutors. According to RWA's website that is the same year Stephen joined the insurance firm then run by his late father Ralph.
Prosecutors said in their indictment that RWA used its access to Blase to influence village regulations of current and potential RWA clients.
Blase is still active in Niles politics having played an influential role in the successful campaign of his replacement, Mayor Robert Callero, and Callero's slate of trustee candidates Andrew Przybylo, Louella Preston and George Alpogianis in last April's election.
Alpogianis recently resigned from the village board because of his own troubles with the law when the Cook County State's Attorney said he did not have standing to hold office as a convicted felon.
Alpogianis' convictions are in no way related to Blase or his case.
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