From the Chicago Tribune

2 charged in driver's license bribery scheme

Tribune staff reports
March 3, 2004, 2:20 PM CST
A supervisor of a west suburban driver's license facility and a Chicago driving school instructor were charged today with taking bribes from applicants so they could pass road and written tests, authorities said.
A federal criminal complaint unsealed today in U.S. District Court, Chicago, named as defendants Fernando Murillo, 46, of Cicero, and Lidia Rodezno, 43, of Chicago.
Murillo is a public-service supervisor at the Illinois Secretary of State's Lombard office, and Rodezno is an instructor at Reliable Driving School, 2735 W. Devon Ave. on the city's North Side, according to an announcement of the charges by U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Each was charged with conspiracy to commit extortion and attempted extortion, Fitzgerald said.
The two are the latest individuals charged in the continuing Operation Safe Road federal probe into corruption in state government. So far, 73 people have been charged, including former Gov. George Ryan, and 60 have been convicted.
Fitzgerald said federal authorities began investigating Murillo and Rodezno after they were notified by the secretary of state's inspector general's office, which participated in the probe.
According to the complaint, Rodezno had been making cash payments to Murillo on behalf of as many as 25 applicants since January 2003.
The bribes typically ranged from $50 to $70, though in two instances involving undercover investigators - one posing as an illegal immigrant, and the other, as a person using a false identity - the defendants collected $700 and $600, the complaint alleged.
Rodezno allegedly told one of the undercover agents that if he brought her any other applicants, she would split the proceeds with him.
She was arrested Feb. 25 and began cooperating with the government, officials said. That day, she arranged for a road test for an applicant in Lombard. Law enforcement conducted surveillance as a $70 bribe was slipped into the car's passenger-side door pocket as an alleged bribe to Murillo.
Murillo subsequently was arrested. He and Rodezno were to make initial appearances this afternoon in federal court, Chicago.
If convicted of the charges, the defendants could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined $250,000, authorities said.
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