U.S. DIST. COURT, BENTON/BRIDGEPORT—More than a decade of corruption in the small Lawrence County town of Bridgeport came to an end Wednesday morning, May 8, 2013, when their sitting mayor, Max Schauf, entered a plea to all four counts on which he was indicted last November.
Schauf, 56, the foul-tempered, greedy little banty rooster of a man who used his position as mayor in Bridgeport to enrich himself and/or his children (and which he continues to do the latter, even now), is now a convicted felon, but as of press time, had not been removed from his office of mayor even after his federal conviction.
Instead, new mayor Brad Purcell was installed in the office (again as of press time, which was May 13) on Tuesday, May 14, at the regular monthly meeting of the Bridgeport city council.
Schauf’s conviction resolved the issue for many who still staunchly supported him to the end, including several in Bridgeport who couldn’t believe the allegations against their mayor: that Schauf had used city funds to pay his own bills by submitting false invoices for payment, and directed others to lie for him throughout the whole thing.
The setting for the plea agreement on the three counts of Mail Fraud (for making the payments through the mail) and one count of Obstruction of Justice (by instructing JP Stevenson to lie to federal investigators about the false invoices) came about on April 22, when Schauf abruptly changed the plea he entered last November from “not guilty” to “guilty.”
What prompted this change is a matter of speculation. But sources in Bridgeport have advised that federal investigators continued to crawl through city records even after the initial indictment…and what they continued to find was incriminating enough to put Schauf in greater hot water than he already was.
These sources indicate that Schauf opted to enter the plea to the existing charges rather than take his chances with further, multiple-count indictments…and a possibly-longer bureau of prison sentence than what he’s already facing.
Stipulation of facts
A stipulation of facts document on file in Benton in the case shows exactly the same information as was given last fall in the indictments, and doesn’t relay anything new. Nevertheless, it’s worth going over again merely to drive home the utter level of corruption to which the city was exposed from 2008 to the day Schauf was charged (the indictment could only go back to 2008 because the Feds can only charge three years’ worth before the time they began investigating, the investigation being kicked off in the summer of 2011). The likelihood that Schauf had been conducting his corrupt practices all the way back to first taking office in May 2001 is a very good one…but unfortunately he can’t be charged all the way back to 12 years ago.
These documents show that from in or around July of 2008 and continuing through in or around March of 2011, Schauf devised a scheme to defraud the city of Bridgeport and its residents by submitting his false and fraudulent invoices, contracts and bills for services and equipment: by contacting and agreeing with various businesses or individuals to provide equipment and/or services for the city, many of these being friends and/or relatives of Schauf’s.
As part of his scheme, he’d submit invoices claiming reimbursement or payment for equipment and/or services and then profit from the city’s overpayment for the invoices.
When he obtained the checks, Schauf would either cash them, deposit them into his personal account, or use them as third-party payments on personal credit accounts including credit cards. Schauf would pay the businesses or individuals who performed the services in an amount less than what was on the invoice, thus preventing the city officials who might have otherwise found out about it from knowing that the amount billed to the city exceeded the amount paid.
Further, it’s been revealed that Schauf failed to disclose his financial interests in the business dealings of the city upon which he could or did act in his official capacity. Federal court documents don’t elaborate on this any further, but this likely is pertaining to his son Mark’s and brother Charlie’s “businesses” which benefited from city funds, as in “doing work” for the city (Mark with his “excavating” business and Charlie with his “mowing the city lagoons” business.) Ostensibly, both of those “businesses” were nothing but shell games so that Schauf could collect money from the city via the plumped-up invoices: the city would pay one of the Schauf’s for the “service,” and Max would then take a cut.
Specified three checks
The feds specified three instances of checks being written on the city’s account to Schauf’s personal bills: on August 14, 2009, city check 2027 was written to Schauf’s Chase Card Services credit card; March 31, 2010, city check 11040 was written to Schauf’s AT&T credit card; and on June 7, 2010, city check 2114 was written to State Farm Bank credit card. Each of those three were charged as Mail Fraud and each constitute a federal felony.
The fourth charge came in the form of a federal Obstruction felony and dates back to November 10, 2011, when Schauf gave JP Stevenson directions on how to falsely answer and mislead FBI agents investigating the fraudulent invoices submitted to the city.
Schauf, as well as his attorney J. Martin Hadican and the Assistant U.S. Attorney handling the matter for the government, Ranley Killian, signed off on the stipulation on May 8, and Schauf was at that time a convicted felon.
Arrangements had been made to obtain a court-certified copy of the conviction and the Bridgeport city council had made plans to have a meeting on the night of May 8; but city clerk Sara Sechrest had “forgotten” to create an agenda for a special meeting by close of business May 6 (which requires 48 hours notice), and none was held. It was then determined to let the matter go until the next regularly-scheduled city council meeting, at which time Schauf would no longer be mayor anyway.
Issued liquor license to a lot
In the interim, Schauf created as much havoc as he could:
It was reported to Disclosure that Schauf had, prior to his conviction, issued a liquor license to an address of an empty lot in town, something which he’s not legally able to do.
The lot, which was reported last month to be the site of construction (but upon which a building was never erected), is the proposed future site of a bar, the ownership of which was going to be one of Schauf’s shell games anyway (as mayor, he couldn’t hold a liquor license, so he always managed to “create” an owner, much like he did with the Red Hill Veterans Club, which didn’t have anything to do with veterans and was “owned” by his girlfriend, Bev Preusz. It has been reported that the “owner” of this new location was going to be Schauf’s old buddy and former alderman George Zellars): Schauf puts up the money but not his name, still benefitting from a kickback as a “silent partner” and maintaining control by working in the facility.
However, state law and the Illinois Liquor Control Commission prohibit the issuance of a license to an empty lot; a building must be in place before a license can be issued.
Therefore, the license Schauf has issued will probably be made invalid as soon as the council is able to address it…and at which time, if re-application is made, it might be more thoroughly revealed who is actually doing the asking—Schauf and/or one of his Schauflings, or Zellars.
As it stands, a convicted felon (both state and federal) cannot hold a liquor license in the state, anyway.
The building that’s been hastily constructed
in Russellville that Schauf is alleged to
be behind. The place is supposed to be
opened soon as yet another bar; there’s
been no indication of what Schauf is going
to do with his other liquor licenses now that
he’s convicted. A convicted felon cannot
hold a liquor license in Illinois.
The Russellville place
What this conviction means for what’s going on in Russellville remains to be seen, as well.
Reports indicate that Schauf has frantically been building a pole barn-type place out on the east part of Lawrence County, on a location where a bar formerly sat in the small, incorporated area of Russellville. The people of Russellville are reportedly not very happy about it, as they would prefer to have their own folks operating such a place and Schauf has an extremely bad reputation overall, in particular as it pertains to his other bar, Madd Maxx’ in Westport.
Who will hold the liquor license at that establishment also remains to be seen in the wake of the federal conviction.
JP’s high-school-prank letter
And attendant to all this is a bogus “letter” that’s been passed around the internet and text messaging in the area since about the end of March.
Purported to have been written by newly-elected city alderwoman Robin Wirth, the letter, actually concocted in a fit of pique by none other than JP Stevenson, is a prime example of how far people will go—and how high-schoolish it can all get—in the mess that is Max Schauf’s legacy in Bridgeport.
Disclosure learned it was concocted (and poorly typed, with atrocious spelling, grammar, punctuation and general bastardization of the English language) by Stevenson after Stevenson himself contacted the paper at the end of March about “evidence” pertaining to Schauf’s federal case. Stevenson claimed that he was sending this “evidence” to the paper, but it never materialized.
Once Disclosure was able to obtain a copy of the letter (shot with a phone camera and sent around to various Lawrence County folk via MMS text, including to law enforcement), it was discovered that Stevenson, who is babydaddy to Sheila Schauf’s offspring (Max Schauf’s elder daughter), was just having another high school-type fit over something his ex girlfriend was doing, and he concocted the letter—fraudulently attributing it to Wirth—in the apparent hopes that it would get the Schaufs into further trouble.
Instead, the letter might end up getting Stevenson in trouble with the law, as it’s illegal to present such a thing falsely attributing it as having been written by someone it was not.
Prison time almost assured
Schauf is set for sentencing on August 8, 2013.
The sentencing guidelines for the felonies of which he’s been convicted range from simple probation (four years) up to no more than 20 years in Federal Bureau of Prisons for a first-time offender.
Schauf’s co-defendant in the indictment, Paul Kramer of Vincennes, copped a plea to his federal Obstruction charge in relation to the case back in March, and is set for sentencing June 27 in Benton. Sources have indicated that Kramer’s sentence might be a litmus test for what’s headed Schauf’s way.
However, sources have also indicated that Schauf, as a sitting mayor when the crimes were committed and the plea was taken, is going to be made an example of and will almost assuredly get some prison time out of the deal.
What this means for Schauf’s current federal civil suit, filed a year ago by Lawrenceville businessman James Brunson, also remains to be seen, but it’s likely that it’s not going to help.
As of press time, Disclosure learned, depositions in the federal case, wherein Brunson is suing Schauf (as well as former Lawrence County state’s attorney Lisa Wade) for violating his civil rights regarding ongoing harassment at his Bridgeport liquor store, were to be taken on press deadline of Monday, May 13, 2013.