Jury Begins Deliberating Illinois Grant-Fraud Case
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- A federal jury begins deliberating Wednesday on whether a Chicago businessman and his wife stole $3.4 million they received in state grant funds.
Leon and Karin Dingle are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering in a Justice Department investigation that has already yielded four guilty pleas.
The seven-week trial in U.S. District Court in Springfield was capped this week by closing arguments. The government claims the Dingles conspired with Illinois Department of Public Health officials and others to convert millions of dollars to personal use out of $11 million handed out for AIDS and cancer-awareness campaigns from 2004 to 2010.
Attorneys for the 77-year-old Leon Dingle and his 75-year-old wife say the couple failed only in trusting longtime bookkeeper Jacquelyn Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
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