Federal court hearing for Crestwood mayor postponed

A federal court hearing where Crestwood’s embattled mayor was expected to plead guilty to federal bribery charges has been delayed.

Lou Presta had a hearing scheduled for Friday to possibly enter a guilty plea in a wide-ranging federal probe of red-light cameras, but a

docket entry on Monday noted the change of plea hearing has been reset to Nov. 17.

Presta was charged in U.S. District Court last year with taking an envelope stuffed with cash bribes from a representative of SafeSpeed LLC, a red-light camera company that does business in his town. The representative was actually cooperating with the FBI and the entire exchange was caught on an undercover camera, records show.

Presta had been scheduled to go to trial in December, but during a telephone hearing last month, his attorney told the judge overseeing the case that a plea agreement was in the works, with a hearing scheduled for Friday.

The brief docket entry did not indicate why the hearing date was rescheduled.

Earlier this month, Presta told village trustees he would give up the mayor’s job due to health issues, then two days later informed the board he was postponing that decision indefinitely.

The Village Board had, following Presta’s Oct. 5 letter saying he would step down, been set to name a temporary mayor, possibly another village trustee, until the next municipal election in spring 2023. Presta said at the time that the federal indictment had nothing to do with his decision to resign.

The 71-year-old was elected to a third term in April, and the board is also considering creating a new

position of economic development director, which Presta has indicated he would fill. The job is expected to pay $65,000, the same salary Presta makes as mayor.

At the time he said he would step down, Presta suggested that it was urgent that trustees name someone to replace him.

“Based upon the news from my doctors, my age, and my responsibilities to my family, I have determined that I am unable to continue to fulfill my duties as mayor,” he told trustees in the Oct. 5 memo.

At the Oct. 7 Village Board meeting where he said he had changed his mind, Presta said his decision followed the advice of his doctors, the village manager and the village attorney.

There was no action on creating the new economic development post at the most recent Village Board meeting on Oct. 21, with the next board meeting scheduled for Nov. 4.