Dean Bauer, the former top aide to Gov. George Ryan who admitted covering up a bribes-for-licenses scandal, was ordered Wednesday to surrender to federal prison Oct. 6 to begin serving his sentence of 1 year and 1 day.
Bauer, who pleaded guilty in January to obstructing justice as inspector general during Ryan’s tenure as secretary of state, was originally scheduled to go to prison May 25, but health problems led to the delay.
On Wednesday, Bauer’s lawyer, Edward Genson, declared Bauer cancer-free and ready to begin his prison term.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has assigned Bauer to a minimum-security prison camp in Terre Haute, Ind., according to Genson.
Bauer, of Kankakee, is scheduled to turn 73 the day before he surrenders to the prison camp.
U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle Sr. refused Genson’s request to recommend to prison officials that Bauer be released earlier than usual to a halfway house.
Bauer wasn’t present in the courtroom Wednesday.
Before Bauer could report to prison in May, doctors discovered a recurrence of bladder cancer. The next month, doctors removed Bauer’s urethra and portions of his kidney and bladder during surgery.
In a letter given to Norgle on Wednesday, Bauer’s physician, Dr. Daniel P. Dalton, indicated a recent evaluation found “no recurrence of disease” in Bauer.
But Dalton cautioned: “It is very important he continues to be followed closely.”
In the biggest conviction yet stemming from Operation Safe Road, Bauer pleaded guilty to instructing a former secretary to destroy two sensitive documents subpoenaed by federal investigators in 1999.
One memo showed that within a week of a fiery crash that killed six Chicago children in 1994, Bauer suspected the trucker involved in the accident had illegally obtained his commercial driver’s license.
As part of the guilty plea, Bauer also acknowledged that prosecutors could prove at trial that he also squelched several other investigations of employee wrongdoing in the secretary of state’s office.
At Bauer’s sentencing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins said Bauer “chose to protect George Ryan’s political future at the expense of public safety.”
So far, 38 people have been convicted in the ongoing federal probe.
