A former high-ranking director in then-Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios’ office has been charged with accepting sports tickets, restaurant meals and other bribes from a lawyer in exchange for help with property assessments.
Francisco Perez, 50, of Chicago, was charged with one count of bribery conspiracy in a criminal information made public Friday. A court date has not been set, but defendants charged by way of information, rather than by grand jury indictment, typically intend to plead guilty.
A lawyer for Perez could not immediately be reached.
According to the four-page information, Perez was the chief hearings officer for the Cook County assessor’s office under Berrios, the county Democratic Party boss who was defeated by current Assessor Fritz Kaegi in the 2018 primary.
As chief hearing officer, Perez was responsible for assigning property assessment appeals to analysts for review and “directly reviewed, assessed, and approved property values on commercial appeals and reviewed applications for certificates of error,” the charges stated.
From early 2018 until Dec. 6, 2018 — when he was terminated by Kaegi’s incoming administration — Perez “repeatedly accepted property and personal advantages” from a lawyer identified only as Individual A and others with the intent to influence his official duties, the charges stated. Among the items Individual A gave Perez were sports tickets and free meals at restaurants.
On Nov.16, 2018, Perez called Individual A to provide an update on the status of the assessor’s office review of a property appeal represented by the lawyer’s firm, according to the charges.
“What we need to do is in the next two weeks, all the ones that you’re like shaky on, you’re like, ‘Man, this (expletive) didn’t come out right,’ boom. Pull them, and we’ll look,” Perez allegedly said on the call, which was secretly recorded by investigators.
The charges do not offer any other specifics.
Perez is the latest of several former assessor’s office employees to be hit with federal bribery charges in recent years, all of whom worked under Berrios, whose administration was often criticized as a den of clout and patronage.
Berrios has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Two former assessor’s office employees, Basil Clausen and Lavdim Memisovski, pleaded guilty to taking bribes and testified last year in the trial of contractor Robert Mitziga, who was accused of paying for food, drinks and rounds of golf at Lost Dunes for Likovski and two other assessor’s office employees who helped steer commercial properties for Mitziga’s company.
Mitziga was acquitted by a jury of all charges in August.
Memisovski and Clausen are awaiting sentencing. A third former assessor’s office employee charged as part of the same alleged scheme, Lumni Likovski, is set to face trial next month.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
