Ex-Chicago alderman, ex-county official accused of corruption

Former Chicago alderman Ambrosio Medrano and former Cook County Commissioner Joseph Moreno were charged Thursday with federal corruption charges alleging they took part in bribery schemes worth thousands of dollars.

The charges allege the former public officials tried to accept kickbacks in a scheme to sell bandages to Cook County’s Stroger Hospital. Moreno was also accused of accepting a $5,000 bribe to ensure construction of a waste transfer station in Cicero while he was on the community’s economic development panel.

Medrano and Moreno were among seven defendants charged in the case. Both men were arrested earlier Thursday and appeared in court with their attorneys.

Medrano, a former alderman who later worked on Moreno’s county staff, is accused of agreeing to receive kickbacks to use their influence so that two of the other co-defendants could sell bandages to Stroger Hospital in Chicago. Investigators allege that under the scheme, Medrano would receive $5 per bandage and Moreno $2 per bandage — an order of a thousand boxes would yield $70,000 with $24,000 going to Medrano.

Moreno will be allowed to post his house to cover $250,000 bond. Medrano will remain in federal custody until at least next week after prosecutors said he was a flight risk.

The individual charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Medrano spent nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty in 1996 to taking $31,000 in bribes from a corrupt waste hauler turned FBI mole.

In 2002, a court ruled unconstitutional a state law barring felons from running for public office, allowing Medrano to try to regain his seat, but he lost the election. A second effort in 2007 to return to the City Council was short-circuited when Illinois Supreme Court ruled Medrano was ineligible to serve because he was convicted of taking payoffs the last time he was on the council.