Man gets prison for lying to feds in former Markham mayor’s bribery case

MARKHAM, Ill. - A southwest suburban business owner has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for lying to federal officials about a bribery scheme involving former Markham Mayor David Webb Jr.

U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman imposed 68-year-old Thomas Summers’ sentence after a hearing Tuesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Summers was convicted last year of making false statements to the FBI and IRS during a 2016 public corruption investigation involving Webb, who was mayor of Markham at the time, prosecutors said. He falsely claimed he didn’t know about bribes paid to Webb by contractors hoping to obtain or keep contracts with the south suburb.

“[Summers] showed no respect for the law,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven J. Dollear and Georgia N. Alexakis argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “He sat across from federal agents and lied. He lied to protect himself and Webb, and the corrupt relationship they shared.”

Webb, who served as mayor from 2001 to 2017, pleaded guilty to the scheme before his trial began, prosecutors said. His sentencing is scheduled for March 11, 2021.

Mokena-based company Tower Contracting LLC and its president, 67-year-old Michael Jarigese of Frankfort, were also convicted in connection with the bribery scheme, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Jarigese was sentenced in March to three years and five months in prison, while the company was fined $1.2 million and sentenced to four years of probation.