Jeffrey Tobolski, whose roughly decade in power as both mayor of McCook and as a member of the Cook County Board ended amid a massive federal corruption case, died Sunday, two months before he was scheduled to report to prison.
Tobolski’s lawyer, James Vanzant, said his client died Sunday morning after a short illness. He did not have any additional details, he said.
Tobolski was scheduled to report to prison after being sentenced earlier this year to four years. Tobolski was hospitalized twice in October with heart and lung issues and pneumonia, with doctors later noting a suspicious spot on his pancreas, a court filing last week stated. He previously had been scheduled to report to prison on Nov. 3, but the judge in his case recently extended that to Jan. 16, records show.
The sentencing in August came nearly six years after he had agreed to cooperate with a federal investigation that became public in 2019 after the FBI raided Tobolski’s offices. The raid was part of a sweeping federal corruption probe that eventually brought down nearly a dozen suburban elected officials and political operatives, including Tobolski’s chief of staff and other close associates.
Tobolski, a Democrat, pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort a local restaurant owner and filing a false tax return. He admitted to years of corruption as the leader of the small west suburban village of only about 300 people, but with scores of businesses and warehouses. He admitted accepting more than $250,000 in bribes or extortion payments and other benefits like cigars, dinners, sports tickets and free air conditioning units that a developer installed at his home.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall told Tobolski that he was intoxicated by the power of his public position and called him “a Jekyll and Hyde human being.”
“The side that was exhibited during those years was a very ugly, aggressive, arrogant individual, like the complete flip side of a human being,” Kendall said. “This small community should never have been terrorized by one human being.”
During that same hearing, Tobolski acknowledged his guilt as he made a nearly 15-minute statement to the court, apologizing for the people he hurt and saying he’s stopped abusing alcohol and changed his life for the better.
“What I did was wrong,” Tobolski said as about a dozen supporters looked on from the courtroom gallery. “I have added to the ever-increasing distrust in elected officials.”
The son of former McCook Mayor Raymond Tobolski — a firefighter and police chief — Jeff Tobolski rose through the political ranks of the small village, working as a trustee, then president for the local park district, then the same for the village board. He was appointed interim mayor in 2007, then won his first full term in 2009. He was elected to the county board in 2010. He retired from both positions in 2020.
Tobolski also worked as a claims adjuster for the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and Standard Mutual Insurance Company.
He leaves behind a wife, Cathleen, and a daughter, Emily.
Tobolski was one of several politicians caught up in the 2019 federal sweep that began with then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval and extended to village halls and homes of several elected officials. He was memorably absent from county board proceedings the day of the sweep of his office, but had ordered Buona Beef for county staff to celebrate his birthday.
Sandoval also died before he served any prison time. He’d pleaded guilty to bribery involving a red light camera company executive and was cooperating with federal investigators — including on matters involving Tobolski — when he died of COVID-19-related complications in December 2020.
After resigning from the Cook County Board and as McCook mayor in March 2020, Tobolski pleaded guilty that September. He cooperated with the federal investigation, which his attorneys argued should have granted him leniency in sentencing.
Tobolski’s chief of staff, Patrick Doherty, was also caught up in the probe. He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay bribes to help an executive of SafeSpeed get red light cameras installed in suburban Oak Lawn.
After Tobolski’s resignation from the board, local Democrats chose Frank Aguilar to replace him. Village trustees chose Terry Carr to replace him as McCook mayor.