Trial opens for former Island Lake mayor

Charles Amrich either carried on a felonious conflict of interest during the 20 years he was mayor of Island Lake, or the village government simply did business as it always had.

A jury of seven women and five men was told it will be asked to choose between those two propositions before the week is out, as Amrich’s trial opened Tuesday in Lake County circuit court.

Amrich, 63, is charged with official misconduct for having a financial interest in business the village did with his family-owned gas station, Amrich’s Island Lake Auto Service.

Assistant State’s Attorney Christen Bishop said in her opening statement that village-owned vehicles were provided gas, service and repairs at Amrich’s station, which also did some towing for the village.

No exact dollar amount that the village spent at Amrich’s station while he was mayor between 1985 and 2005 is available, investigators said, because the records of the transactions are incomplete and some documentation is missing.

Bishop told the jurors that other staples of higher-profile official corruption cases will be missing from Amrich’s trial because all the activities took place very much in the open.

“The village simply sent its vehicles to Amrich’s Island Lake Auto Service for all their needs for all those years,” Bishop said. “There were no secret meetings, no audio or video tapes, no backdoor dealings.”

And no crime as well, Assistant Public Defender Jeffrey Faclam claimed in his opening statement.

Faclam told the jurors the prosecution will be unable to prove Amrich performed any act he knew was in violation of the law, and therefore will fall short of its goal of proving Amrich guilty.

Village vehicles were serviced at the Amrich station before Amrich’s election as mayor, Faclam said, and the fact the village continued to do so while he was part of government does not implicate his client in a crime.

“He served as mayor of a small town; this is not the city of Chicago,” Faclam said. “Other village employees decided to bring their cars to the station.”

Amrich faces up to five years in prison if convicted, but would also be eligible for probation.