Former Bloomingdale Township road commissioner gets 3.5 years in kickback scheme

CHICAGO — A former suburban Chicago highway commissioner was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Tuesday for taking more than $280,000 in kickbacks from an excavation company.

Robert Czernek, 71, the former elected head of the Bloomingdale Township highway commission, pleaded guilty last March to one count of honest-services wire fraud. He was charged in an August 2020 indictment along with Debra Fazio, the owner of Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., and her employee, Mario Giannini.

Czernek read from a written statement in court.

“I make no excuses for my conduct,” he said. “My crime was not a mistake, it was something that I did to enrich myself.”

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly credited Czernek for taking a plea deal from prosecutors and testifying at Giannini’s 2021 trial.

Giannini is appealing his May conviction on 14 counts of wire fraud. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Kennelly last March dismissed a wire fraud charge against Fazio, saying prosecutors had not proven she knew of the scheme or participated in it.

Czernek and Giannini will have to pay more than $500,000 restitution to the township.