A Worth Township trustee who prosecutors say helped with two federal investigations was sentenced to probation Wednesday for failing to file his income tax returns for 2017 and 2018.
Richard J. Lewandowski, 65, pleaded guilty early in 2021 and admitted that his misdemeanor crime cost the IRS $52,365 and the Illinois Department of Revenue $10,350. However, he also agreed to help the feds in undisclosed investigations in hope of a sentencing break.
In the end, U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez went along with a recommendation from prosecutors, giving Lewandowski one year of probation. She also fined him $4,000 and ordered him to pay $500 toward the cost of his prosecution.
Before he was sentenced, Lewandowski told the judge “I could probably put on a seminar on the crippling effects of procrastination.” He said he’s learned to “get rid of the clutter in my life” and how “to say ‘no’ once in a while.” But, he acknowledged, “this one got me.”
The feds say Lewandowski failed to file his tax returns “despite making significant income through his family’s politically connected printing company, Breaker Press.” Though they say he paid the federal taxes he owed in 2021, they said last month he still owed taxes to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Patrick Boyle, Lewandowski’s defense attorney, wrote in a separate court memo that Lewandowski planned to “promptly pay” the state, along with other penalties to the IRS, “thereby making both government agencies whole.”
Boyle also noted that Lewandowski said he didn’t file his tax returns because he was waiting for a form from a business partner and didn’t want to file them without it.
“This was literally a crime or sin of omission,” Boyle wrote.
Prosecutors told the judge that Lewandowski’s cooperation with them “has spanned over the course of many months,” that he’d been truthful, and that the information he provided has been “helpful, reliable, and timely.” They said it related to two investigations, but they offered no additional details.
In court Wednesday, Boyle told the judge that Lewandowski produced “banker boxes” of records that took “many, many hours” to put together. Boyle also said Lewandowski “subjected himself to multiple proffers with prosecuting attorneys and agents going through all these documents.”
Among those who wrote letters in support of Lewandowski was former U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, who called Lewandowski a “good willed, generous, dedicated member of his community.”
“I realize Rich is in front of you because he did not follow the law,” Lipinski told the judge, “but I truly believe that Rich is a good person, who would not intentionally compromise his business or any individual, and I can only hope that you can see that goodness in Rich.”