The elected leader of the Bloomingdale, Ill., township highway commission has been charged in federal court in Chicago with taking more than $280,000 in kickbacks from an excavation company owner in exchange for approving contracts for road work that, most of the time, was never done.
Highway Commissioner Robert Czernek (R) was reelected twice to the position in Bloomingdale in Chicago's western suburbs after being appointed an acting commissioner in 2012. Federal prosecutors charged him in a 20-count indictment with taking kickbacks from Debra Fazio, owner of Bloomingdale-based Bulldog Earth Movers Inc., over eight years, said the indictment, made public Aug. 27.