State Sen. Thomas Cullerton’s federal embezzlement case set for trial in early 2022

State Sen. Thomas Cullerton is set to go to trial on federal embezzlement charges early in 2022, more than a year after his original trial date.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman on Tuesday said Cullerton’s trial would begin Feb. 22. The judge also said he might be willing to start it sooner if other trials on his calendar are canceled.

Cullerton had been set to face a jury last July on the embezzlement charges he’s faced since 2019. But his trial was scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic along with many others.

Now, there are at least three public corruption cases set to go to trial in the next 10 months as judges move to catch up. Bloomingdale Township Road District Commissioner Robert Czernek is set for trial in a kickback case Aug. 9. And Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta faces trial Dec. 6 in a case revolving around the red-light camera company SafeSpeed.

Two additional senators have joined Cullerton since 2019 in facing criminal charges in federal court — Martin Sandoval and Terry Link were each charged in separate cases in 2020. Cullerton remains in the Senate while Sandoval and Link resigned. Sandoval died in December, and Link has pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return.

The case against Cullerton revolves around his role as an organizer for Teamsters Joint Council 25. He landed that job after his former employer, Hostess Brands, shut down in 2012. Former Teamsters boss John Coli told prosecutors he arranged for Cullerton to get that job “but did not believe the employment was legitimate,” Cullerton’s defense attorney has said.

Cullerton has been accused of collecting $188,320 in salary, bonuses and cellphone and vehicle allowances from the Teamsters, as well as $64,068 in health and pension contributions, while doing little or no work for the labor union. He also allegedly collected $21,678 in reimbursed medical claims.

Coli pleaded guilty in 2019 in an extortion case revolving around $325,000 in cash payments he received from Cinespace Chicago Film Studios between 2014 and 2017. He agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, and Cullerton was charged days later.