Former County Clerk Pleads Guilty to Taking Bribe for Oak Park House Deed

A former clerk for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds has pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe for preparing a fraudulent back-dated deed on an Oak Park home.

Regina Taylor, 59 of Chicago, pleaded guilty to honest services mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois.

The maximum sentence for conviction is 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or double the gross gain or gross loss from the offense, whichever one is more.

Taylor reportedly accepted a $200 cash bribe in 2012 from an undercover law enforcement agent who asked her to add a relative’s name to the deed of an Oak Park home, according to a written plea agreement.

“According to the plea agreement, the fraudulent quit claim deed was created to add the purported relative as a fourth owner of the Oak Park property,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Taylor directed the undercover agent not to tell anyone that the three other individuals on the deed were deceased, according to the plea agreement. Taylor then prepared the fraudulent deed and back-dated it by 18 months, confirming the purported relative as a grantee.”

The plea agreement states Taylor gave the fraudulent deed to the undercover agent so the agent could have it stamped by the Village of Oak Park, and Taylor told the agent to bring back the stamped copy of the deed so she could file it at the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 13.