Dorothy Brown worker who allegedly lied to federal grand jury set for trial

The feds came calling for Dorothy Brown's cellphone more than three years ago.

Not much has come of it, though. Not for Brown. Job-selling allegations have swirled around the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County ever since. Still, she won re-election in 2016 and has yet to face any criminal charges. The same can't be said for two people who worked in her office who have since been charged with perjury.

This week, federal prosecutors are preparing to put one of those workers, Been a Patel, on trial. Her case has already opened the widest window yet into the probe that led investigators to Brown's home late in 2015, and Patel's trial could reveal even more. It begins Tuesday in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis.

Walter Jones Jr., Patel's defense attorney, said none of the evidence in the case will put his client anywhere near the bribery allegations that have been central to the yearslong investigation of Brown and her office. He also said Patel maintains her innocence.

"The focus of this whole thing has been on bribes or some other thing," Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times. "My client has not been indicted for that."

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