Not-guilty plea in Metra bribery case

From The Chicago Tribune

Not-guilty plea in Metra bribery case

By Ray Gibson
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 26, 2002, 11:33 AM CDT

A former state legislator pleaded not guilty today to charges he paid a Metra board member thousands of dollars in bribes to win $4 million in contracts from the commuter rail agency.

Roger Stanley entered his plea in the downtown Chicago courtroom of U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kocoras. He surrendered his passport, was being processed by authorities and was expected to be released later today.

If his attorney and the government cannot reach agreement on his bond, he will return to court Thursday for a bond hearing. In a filing this morning, prosecutors contended Stanley was a flight risk.

Stanley, his business partner Robert Doyle and lawyer Stanley Stewart were indicted last week in connection with a scheme in which $130,000 in bribes allegedly were paid in return for more than 16 contracts at Metra over 15 years. Doyle and Stewart are cooperating with the government, authorities have said.

The indictment said some of the alleged bribe money went to Donald Udstuen, a former Metra board member who is cooperating in the federal probe and was indicted in May on a tax charge.

Last week's indictment also charged Stanley with obstruction of justice. His attorney, Michael Ettinger, said today the government based that allegation on two or three short, taped telephone conversations. Ettinger said he did not know who taped the calls.