Former Oakbrook Terrace mayor Tony Ragucci pleads guilty in red light camera scheme

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. - The former mayor of Oak Brook Terrace pleaded guilty Monday to taking kickbacks to support the use of red-light cameras in his community.

Tony Ragucci resigned in 2020. He now admits to getting $88,000 when he was leading Oakbrook Terrace. He pleaded guilty to fraud and tax crimes.

Ragucci faces up to five years in prison.

It’s the latest conviction related to how SafeSpeed LLC dealt with some Chicago-area communities that installed cameras to record traffic violations.

SafeSpeed said it didn’t authorize payoffs and that any kickbacks were part of a scheme by people who are no longer associated with the company.

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Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durkin said Ragucci is cooperating with investigators, assistance that could help him when he gets a sentence. He was a police officer before being elected mayor in 2009.

Oakbrook Terrace’s red-light cameras produced nearly $17 million in revenue from 2017 to April 2021, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Ragucci had defended the cameras as a way to encourage safe driving.

In April, Louis Presta, who was mayor of Crestwood, was sentenced to a year in prison for accepting $5,000 in a red-light camera scheme.

Associated Press contributed to this report.