Keith Freeman, the Dolton village administrator and a manager for Thornton Township, has been charged with bankruptcy fraud, according to a federal indictment, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago said Tuesday.
It’s alleged the 45-year-old Orland Park resident made false statements in his bankruptcy petition filed earlier this year to conceal from creditors his assets and sources of income and a significant claim against him.
The indictment alleges that during a meeting with his creditors, while Freeman was under oath, he falsely represented he was not an employee of Dolton and that he did not receive payment from Dolton, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney.
He is charged with one count of bankruptcy fraud and, if convicted, could be sentenced to up to five years in a federal prison, according to the news release.
Arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
Freeman earns some $100,000 a year from his Dolton job, and underreported his income in his 2022 federal tax return, according to the indictment.
He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Jan. 3 of this year, and the filing included information about all of his assets and sources of income, as well as any claims against him, according to the news release.
The indictment alleges Freeman made several materially false statements and omissions in the document, including knowingly underreporting income he derived from his employment as both Dolton village administrator and the municipality manager for Thornton Township, as well as fees he received from his private consulting business.
Freeman also allegedly concealed that Robbins, where he was village administrator from 2017 to 2021, filed a claim against him related to about $90,396 that Freeman received in excess of his authorized salary while he was a village employee, according to the indictment.
Freeman also furnished the Chapter 7 trustee with a purported copy of his 2022 individual income tax return, which represented that Freeman’s total income from employment was $45,186. The indictment states that Freeman knew he had not filed an income tax return for that year, and that his actual income, which included a $100,000 salary for the Dolton position alone, substantially exceeded that amount.
It was further part of the scheme that on Jan. 30, 2024, while testifying under oath at a meeting of creditors, Freeman falsely represented that he was not a Dolton employee and that he did not receive payment from Dolton, the indictment states. The following month, Freeman allegedly caused his pay from Dolton to be directly deposited into a recently opened bank account that he had not disclosed to the creditors or the Chapter 7 trustee.
Neither Freeman nor a public relations firm working for Dolton immediately responded to requests for comment.