Time is running out for former Calumet Township Trustee Mary Elgin.
Elgin and three former township employees have until March 31 to accept the U.S. Attorney’s final offer of a plea agreement.
Judge Joseph S. Van Bokkelen conducted a telephone conference Wednesday with attorneys for the defendants, ruling the plea would be withdrawn and he would proceed with the trial if their clients did not agree to the government’s offer, documents said. The defendants are scheduled to receive it on March 20, court records stated.
Elgin and her co-defendants are charged with using the Calumet Township Trustee’s office and fellow employees to help run election campaigns. Elgin is also charged with lying to federal investigators, trying to extort a township vendor and not filing her federal income tax returns.
Three of Elgin’s office employees, Ethel Shelton, Steven Hunter, Elgin’s son; and former deputy Calumet Township Trustee Alex Wheeler, face wire fraud, conspiracy and extortion charges.
The defendants have run out of options to delay judgment on charges filed back on Dec. 18, 2014. Van Bokkelen “cautioned” in October 2016 that additional requests for a continuance are unlikely to be granted, documents said.
Attorneys on the call agreed that two weeks would be enough time to consider the plea agreement, documents said.
A May 8 trial is planned.
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for he Post-Tribune.
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