By Jason Meisner, Chicago
Tribune reporter
December 6, 2013
A former longtime Chicago
police lieutenant pleaded guilty Thursday in connection with a mortgage fraud
scheme involving a Northwest Side real estate mogul and a crooked former
suburban police chief.
Erroll Davis, 52, choked up as
he entered his guilty plea in federal court to one count of making false
statements in a tax return. Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan
that Davis faces 12 to 18 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines
but that they would recommend a lighter sentence if he continues to cooperate.
Davis, a 27-year police veteran who spent years with the marine unit, resigned
from the department after the charges were announced last month.
Robert Michael, 62, a former
CEO of the now-defunct Citizens Bank and Trust, has pleaded not guilty to
charges he hoodwinked his own bank into illegally lending $650,000 to Davis for
the fraudulent purchase of an apartment building in the South Chicago
neighborhood.
The building was actually owned
by Regina Evans, the former police chief of Country Club Hills, who owed
Michael's bank and realty company more than $300,000 in mortgage payments on
the building and rent for a nightclub. But the bank loan instead went to pay
off Evans' debt, and Davis was given a $30,000 check for his troubles,
according to court records.
Davis admitted in his plea
agreement he lied on the loan application and failed to claim the $30,000 as
income on his 2008 tax return. Evans, who was not charged, is scheduled to be
sentenced next week in a separate case for stealing state grant money.