Dixmoor Mayor Donald C. Luster, elected last year only by the narrowest of margins and a contentious court victory, has been indicted after an investigation triggered by his own testimony in the court case that made him mayor.
In a three-count, felony indictment filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan charged Luster–a convicted felon and Baptist minister–with failing to file tax returns in Illinois for two years and collecting unemployment benefits while working for a temporary employment agency.
The indictment comes more than a year after Luster, while trying to refute election charges that he was not a resident of Dixmoor, admitted to a Cook County judge that he had not filed tax returns since 1990.
On Tuesday, Luster conceded he did not file income tax returns for several years but said he is innocent and plans to fight the charges in court. He is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 13.
Standing on the front steps of his Dixmoor home, hours before he planned to lead a Bible class at his church, Luster said that, prior to the election, he sat down with his accountant and resolved the tax issues and determined he didn’t owe the government any money.
“Those years that were not filed, have been filed,” he said. “I didn’t owe any taxes.”
Luster also admitted that he had received more money than he should have in unemployment benefits in 1999, but that was the result of an administrative error, which has since been corrected.
But officials with the attorney general’s office say the issues are not resolved. In the indictment, they say Luster, 39, received more than $2,200 in unemployment benefits from the state between mid-October 1999 and the end of that year. During that same time, he was paid more than $5,600 from the temporary agency, Express Personnel Services, according to Assistant Atty. Gen. Sadzi Oliva, who is overseeing the case.
In addition, Oliva said, the attorney general’s office is charging Luster with not filing any state tax returns in 1999 or 2000.
Authorities said Luster would likely only have to step down from office if he’s found guilty–and Luster said he has no intention to do so sooner.
“Step down for what? What have I done?” he asked. “I’m going to continue to run this village.”
The charges are just the newest twist in an outrageous saga that for years has enveloped government in Dixmoor, a tiny south suburb of fewer than 4,000 residents that has dealt with, and caused, controversies big cities don’t contend with. In the last three years alone, the village almost had its water supply cut off because it couldn’t pay the bill, fended off aggressive attempts to be annexed by neighboring Harvey and had federal investigators questioning why the Park District had 80 police officers responsible for a single tot lot.
But Luster’s election in April 2001 produced the biggest stir.
Days after he defeated Brad Carpenter by one vote, Luster faced questions of a recount and held a standoff with those in power at the time. Although a village ordinance said he wasn’t supposed to become mayor for a few more weeks, Luster claimed he had a “divine mandate” to take the office immediately.
Luster also faced a challenge from Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine, who contended Luster could not become mayor because he pleaded guilty to robbery in 1991.
Devine also questioned whether Luster lived in Dixmoor the required one year prior to the election.
It was during that court hearing when Luster told Judge Raymond Jagielski he had not filed tax returns since 1990, but still could prove he lived in Dixmoor. Jagielski eventually believed Luster and allowed him to take office, but the comments have come back to haunt the beleaguered mayor.
Since taking office, Luster has clashed with the six trustees on the Village Board, some of whom said the mayor has continually gone behind their backs.
Earlier this month, for instance, they demanded he return a 2001 Lincoln Town Car he leased last year with village money and, they say, without their approval. The board also asked Luster to reimburse the village for the money spent on the lease.
“When you start dealing with him as village mayor, he kind of goes around you and does things,” said Robert Warren, a Dixmoor trustee for three years.
Luster, as associate pastor at the True Vine Missionary Baptist Church in Dixmoor who wears a badge on his hip that looks like a police star but says “Mayor,” said Tuesday that he plans to return the car, which was parked in his driveway. He did not say whether he would reimburse the village for the costs of the lease.
Alice Green, another village trustee, predicted the indictment will be addressed at Wednesday night’s schedule board meeting.
“This village already has a bad enough name,” she said. “It just brings the village down further.”
