Martin A. Sandoval is a Democratic politician, from Illinois, who admitted guilt to corruption charges in 2020. He sat in the Illinois Senate from 2003 until resigning effective January 1, 2020.
Early life
Sandoval was born in the Back of the Yards, a neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest Side. He went on to Loyola University, Chicago, where he received a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Sandoval was and was then sworn into office in 2003. Sandoval questioned the work ethic of Governor Rod Blagojevich during the 2007 budget crisis, as Blagojevich returned to Chicago rather than staying in Springfield for the remainder of the session. Sandoval was part of the Illinois Senate leadership. As of 2019, Sandoval was the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and of the Special Committee on Supplier Diversity; Sub-Chairperson of the Subcommittee on Capital; and a member of the Energy and Public Utilities, Higher Education, and Licensed Activities committees and the Special Committee on Pension Investments. At a Sandoval fundraiser was held on August 16, 2019, at Klein Creek Golf Club in DuPage County posted photos on Facebook the next day showing a mock assassination of President Donald Trump. The pictures sparked outrage online, worldwide news attention, and condemnation Sandoval released a statement apologizing for the "unacceptable" actions of the guests at his event. In May of 2019, Sandoval introduced legislation that proposed to increase the annual registration fee for electric vehicles from $17.50 to $1,000.00, which would have raised about $2.4 billion in annual funding.
Corruption
On September 24, 2019, Sandoval's offices in the Illinois State Capitol building and his regional office in both Springfield and Cicero were raided by federal agents from the FBI and IRS. The same day two officials were seen exiting Sandoval’s house to get hand trucks to take inside. Sandoval at first refused to comment on the situation. It was federal agents involved in the raid sought a vast array of information involving construction, transportation and power company officials, lobbyists, gambling interests, a red-light camera company and at least three suburban mayors. Agents also were at his Cicero office and his home. The Sandoval raid was quickly followed by federal law enforcement actions in McCook, Lyons, and Summit — all towns in the senator’s district. On November 28, 2019, in the wake of the ongoing probe, Sandoval announced he would resign from the Illinois Senate effective January 1, 2020. He had already resigned as chair of the Illinois Senate's Transportation Committee. On January 28, 2020, Sandoval agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of bribery and filing a false tax return, both of which he had been charged with earlier in the week. He confirmed that he had taken more than $250,000 in bribes, dating back to at least 2016. At least $70,000 of that money was to obtain benefits for SafeSpeed, LLC, a red light camera company which has been identified as "Company A" but Sandoval identified during his allocution, in exchange for Sandoval being the company's "protector" in the Senate and blocking legislation that would harm the red-light camera industry. SafeSpeed received a portion of the money collected from traffic tickets, and Sandoval began receiving a monthly bribe after complaining that he was not receiving kickbacks on SafeSpeed's ticket revenue. He also agreed that he had accepted bribery from other people in exchange for using his Senate position, involving at least 5 other participants and with Sandoval directing at least 2 other people. Sandoval also agreed that he had falsified federal and Illinois tax returns, including claiming 2017 income of $125,905 when his income was at least $259,255, and also underporting his income for 2012 through 2016. As part of his plea agreement, Sandoval agreed to cooperate with federal investigations. At his plea hearing, he was released on $10,000 bond and banned from leaving the state, and was scheduled for sentencing in July.
