DOLTON, Ill. — A federal grand jury in Chicago has charged Lewis Lacey, the acting police deputy chief in south suburban Dolton, with bankruptcy fraud charges in connection with an alleged scheme to conceal assets and income from creditors and prevent payment of the settlement of a lawsuit.
61-year-old Lewis Lacey, a Matteson resident, has been charged with bankruptcy fraud, making false statements and declarations in a bankruptcy case, and perjury, according to a nine-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Monday afternoon.
The indictment alleges that since the 1980s, Lacey filed several personal bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including in 2019 and 2020, which included materially false and fraudulent representations, which automatically stayed enforcement of a settlement agreement that he had reached in a lawsuit in state court in 2017.
Prosecutors said the 2019 bankruptcy petition was allegedly filed shortly after the plaintiff moved to enforce the settlement agreement, which accused Lacey of still owing $43,000 of the $55,000 settlement.
According to the indictment, in the oral statements and documents submitted in the bankruptcy cases, Lacey allegedly lied about being separated from his spouse and claimed that she did not reside with him or contribute to his monthly income and mortgage.
Prosecutors said the false representations allegedly allowed Lacey to report a substantially smaller amount of monthly income to avoid payment of the settlement
Prosecutors said the alleged scheme unfolded as Lacey was working for the Dolton Police Department.
“Lacey attempted to and did defraud his creditors… By making false and fraudulent statements in oral statements and documents,” the federal indictment stated in part.
If convicted, Lacey could face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
Lacey’s arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
On Thursday, during a highly-anticipated presentation on Dolton finances from former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, it was revealed that Lacey had received more than $200,000 in overtime over the last four fiscal years.
It was also revealed that Lacey, who is a close ally of embattled Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, had been terminated during Thursday’s meeting. Despite the termination notice, Lacey continued to show up to work.
The board of trustees had previously placed Lacey on administrative leave, pending an investigation into his alleged mishandling of the Dolton Police Department, but he continued to report to work, telling WGN-TV that the board of trustees did not have the power to put him on leave.
Lacey is the second top official in Dolton to face federal bankruptcy charges in recent months in what some view as an effort by prosecutors to encourage them to cooperate in their ongoing probe of Henyard’s leadership.
In April, Keith Freeman, the senior administrator for both the Village of Dolton and Thorton Township, pleaded not guilty to bankruptcy charges and is also named in a separate lawsuit against Henyard by a property owner who said he was unjustly denied a business license.
