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[Updated on Thur, April 19, 2007]
Illinois Mayor Faced Additional ChargesThe long-time mayor of Niles, Illinois, Nicholas Blase, was arrested by the FBI on June 8, 2006 and charged with fraud and taking bribes in exchange for pressuring businesses to buy insurance policies. Blase has denied any wrongdoing – vowing to stay in office despite his indictment. The charges were brought after federal authorities conducted an exhaustive covert investigation – tracing illegal activity involving the mayor back to 1989. Blase has served as Niles mayor, a suburb of 30,000 north of Chicago, for over 45 years.
The Chicago Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory is providing digital forensics expertise to the FBI who is leading the on-going investigation. Recent press reports published on April 14, 2007 stated that six tax counts were added to the indictment, alleging that Blase filed false federal tax returns for six years by failing to report the more than $420,000 in kickbacks to the Internal Revenue Service. The mayor has pleaded not guilty to these latest charges and remains free on bail.
[Heart of America RCFL web site ]