Former Chicago Public Schools employee who made false statements during FBI investigation sentenced

CHICAGO - A former Chicago Public Schools employee who was responsible for making recommendations on the award of a $1 billion services contract has been sentenced for lying to the FBI.

Pedro Soto, 48, of Chicago, was sentenced to 18 months of probation Thursday after he admitted to intentionally misleading the FBI while the agency investigated his involvement in the rewarding of a custodial services contract valued at about $1 billion, the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a statement.

In 2016, Soto was a member of an evaluation committee responsible for recommending to the Chicago Board of Education which company or companies should be hired to perform the services for CPS, prosecutors said.

During the evaluation process, Soto interacted with a lobbyist and the lobbyist's colleague who were working on behalf of one of the companies bidding for the contract, according to prosecutors.

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In a plea agreement, Soto admitted he repeatedly gave non-public information regarding the contract's award to the lobbyist's colleague in exchange for "various benefits" to himself, the statement said.

"Soto further admitted that in 2019 he intentionally made false statements to the FBI when he denied having provided the lobbyist’s colleague with inside information about the awarding of the contract," prosecutors said in a statement.

In addition to the probation sentence, Soto was fined $3,000 and received 100 hours of community service, according to prosecutors.