Illinois State Sen. Cullerton Resigns, Will Accept Plea Deal

CHICAGO — State Sen. Thomas Cullerton has resigned from office and reportedly plans to accept a plea deal his plea on federal embezzlement charges after he was indicted by a grand jury last year on 41 counts.

The 52-year-old Democrat from Villa Park was charged in 2019 on accusations that he accepted $275,000 in salary and benefits from a Teamsters union despite ding little or no work for the union during that time, the indictment states.

As the case was preparing to go to trial, Cullerton sent a letter to the Illinois secretary of the Senate on Wednesday indicating his decision to resign. The decision comes as an attorney for Cullerton told a judge Wednesday morning that the senator had agreed to a plea bargain that will keep him from going to trial.

Cullerton is next scheduled to appear in court on March 8.

The indictment alleged that Cullerton, who is formerly a member of Teamsters Local Union 734, was hired to be a union organizer by the president of Teamsters Joint Council 25 in March 2013, after he was elected to the state senate.

During his time as an organizer, which lasted until 2016, Cullerton is accused of having "fraudulently obtained from Joint Council 25 and its members approximately $188,320 in salary, bonuses, and cellphone and vehicle allowances, as well as approximately $64,068 in health and pension contributions."

These funds, which Cullerton is accused of using to pay for "personal expenses, such as his mortgage, utilities and groceries," were collected in exchange for Cullerton having done "little to no work as an organizer," the Department Of Justice said in 2019.

Cullerton is further accused of collecting reimbursed medical claims from the union's Health and Welfare Fund under the pretense that he worked as a "route salesman."

Cullerton was elected to the 23rd District in 2013 and represents parts of Addison, Bloomingdale, Bartlett, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Hanover Park, Itasca, Roselle, Villa Park, and West Chicago. He was previously the Villa Park village president before being elected to the Senate.