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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA )
) No. 14 CR 216
v. )
) Hon. J ames B. Zagel
J OHN THOMAS )

GOVERNMENTS MOTION TO REVOKE BOND
The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by its attorney, ZACHARY T. FARDON,
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, hereby moves to revoke the bond
imposed in this case as a result of defendants violation of the bond conditions. Specifically,
defendant has met in-person with a witness he was ordered not to have contact with, has left his
home in violation of home incarceration, obtained a false letter to justify his whereabouts, and
used a cellphone when he was ordered not to in his conditions of release. This is defendants
second violation of his bond conditions. At this time, the government submits that revocation is
warranted.
I. Background

Defendant J ohn Thomas was arrested on April 18, 2014 as a result of his indictment on
three counts of wire fraud, Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343. The indictment alleges
that Thomas engaged in a fraud on the Village of Riverdale by using funds from the Villages
Tax Increment Financing program for his own personal benefit, instead of using the funds to
renovate the Riverdale marina. At his initial appearance, the government moved to detain
defendant and asserted that defendant posed a financial danger to the community. In particular,
the government proffered that defendant had engaged in at least five financial scams that he had
operated between the fall of 2013 and J anuary 2014 while he was aware of the Riverdale
investigation. These scams included submitting a fake proof of funds letter to a bank, attempting
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to draw over $70,000 in funds from a credit card terminal using expired gift and credit cards, and
submitting a fake letter to the receiver appointed for the Riverdale marina claiming that he owed
certain property at the marina when he did not.
On April 18, 2014, the Court did not detain defendant, but imposed bond conditions that
included home incarceration and electronic monitoring. The Court also ordered defendant not to
use a telephone, cellphone, or a computer, and ordered that there should be no computers at his
residence. The Court ordered that defendants cellphone shall remain in the custody of the FBI.
The Court ordered that defendant not have contact with former employees of Nosmo Kings,
including witnesses S.W. and M.G. The Court also ordered that defendant could not engage in
financial transactions over $500, and any fees or commissions that were already due to defendant
should remain in his attorneys trust account.
On April 23, 2014, the parties appeared for a continued detention and bond hearing. At
that hearing, the government proffered that defendant had used his wifes cellphone to call his
former co-defendant Lou Giordano, and had used a device called Google TV to access the
internet. The government also proffered that defendants conversation with Giordano was also
confirmed by another witness, Giordanos girlfriend, who the FBI had interviewed as well.
Defendant had also submitted to the government, as purported security for his bond, a deed for
the Riverdale marina even though he had sold the marina for $30,000, and a deed for a condo
from 2004 that he had sold in 2005. The Court kept the same bond conditions, and allowed the
government additional time to investigate defendants violation of the bond conditions.
On April 28, 2014, the parties appeared and the government reported that it had evidence
defendant had instructed his former co-defendant to leave messages for him in the draft section
of an email account. The government provided handwritten notes by the defendant, which was
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given to his former co-defendant, with the login and password for that account and the notation,
leave in draft section. The government also informed the Court that defendant was
communicating with his former co-defendant using his wifes phone who was also his third-
party custodian at that time on multiple occasions based on information obtained from
Giordano. Further, the government asserted that at least one of the two real estate deals that
defendant was engaged in appeared to be suspicious. Specifically, according to one of the
attorneys involved in the deal, defendant had filed bogus encumbrances on the property to stall a
closing and expected payment in exchange for filing releases for those encumbrances. The
government also informed the Court that defendant was not owed any broker or commission fees
because his real estate license was revoked in 2011 by the Illinois Department of Professional
Regulation for failure to disclose his prior criminal conviction. While the government was
continuing to investigate the real estate transactions, the government submitted that the
information proffered was sufficient to maintain the condition that defendant not engage in
financial transactions over $500 and that any funds remain in his attorneys trust account.
Upon inquiry by the Court about the handwritten notes concerning the draft email
notations, defendant admitted that he authored the notes. The Court found that defendant had
violated his bond condition concerning not using computers or the internet, and that the Court
expressed serious concerns about its ability to trust defendant. The Court provided additional
time for the parties to discuss implementing a secured bond with property, in addition to the
existing release conditions. As described below, the government has additional information that
defendant has yet again violated his bond conditions between April 26, 2014 (the date of the last
hearing) and May 5, 2014.

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II. The Court Should Revoke Defendants Bond for Violations of the Conditions of
Release

Defendant was ordered by this Court not to have contact with a witness, S.W., not to use
a cellphone, and not to leave his home, except for medical issues and attorney appointments.
The government has evidence that defendant violated all of these conditions. On May 1, 2014,
S.W. reported to the FBI case agent that she had received text messages from defendants
mothers cellphone.
1
See Ex. A. The subject of the text messages included discussion about real
estate closings, including a text message stating Deal closed. first in a long time. john is back.
See Ex. A.
2
According to S.W., she called the number that was sending the text messages.
Defendant Thomas answered the phone. Id.
S.W. had previously received text messages from Thomass wife and mother after
Thomass arrest, but the nature of many of the communications, including increasing discussion
of real estate deals, led her to believe that Thomas was often the individual communicating with
her. Indeed, on April 22, 2014, S.W. reported that she received a text from a 304 area code. See
Ex. B. The text message noted that the sender was J oe Mamma, that the sender was using
text plus, and referenced Lou [Giordano], an event at 1pm the next day (the Courts bond
hearing was set for 12:00 pm the following day) and a note from S.W. that the sender could be
sent to Kankakee for communicating with her, to which the sender stated he [Lou] is full of
shit. Id. According to its website, text plus is an online business that allows text messaging and
provides the user a phone number, much like a phone carrier. See https:\www.textplus.com. It is
apparent now from the above communication that Thomas was behind many of the

1
To protect the identity of certain individuals, the government will file redacted copies of the exhibits to
this motion on the docket, but has provided the Court and defense counsel with unredacted copies.
2
The light colored boxes around texts are from the phones defendant is using, while the dark colored
boxes around the texts are from S.W.s phone.
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communications with S.W. using both text plus and his mothers phone, as indicated by the
reference to the Courts scheduled bond hearing and Kankakee County prison.
A more serious violation occurred on May 5, 2014. According to Pretrial Services,
defendant had a dentist appointment and was away from his home between approximately 11:00
a.m. and 1:42 p.m. That day, S.W. received text messages from Thomass mothers phone
asking her to meet at defendants office. See Ex. C and attachments. S.W. then received a text
message asking her to meet at the dentists office. Id. S.W. stated she would wait in defendants
office. S.W. understood that she was going to meet Thomass mother and receive some money
from Thomass mother. According to S.W., she was a former office assistant for Thomas and
was owed funds from her employment for defendant. Id.
As stated in the attached interview report, while S.W. was in defendants office, at
approximately 12:45 p.m., defendant was appeared at the office. Id. Defendant told S.W. that
his mother had given defendant her cellphone to use. Id. at 2. Defendant told S.W. he was
closing more real estate deals, and that he intended to leave his wife for her. Defendant told
S.W. that he would buy her a house and a car. Defendant told S. W. that he wanted to pin the
blame of the Riverdale fraud on one of his former employees. Id. at 1. Defendant asked S W.
why she hadnt told him that she was talking to government agents. Id. This meeting lasted
approximately 30 minutes. The government submits that this meeting was an attempt to
influence S.W., who is a witness in the governments case, and is someone who has information
about defendants false and fraudulent statements to the Village of Riverdale as she was his
office assistant at that time. More importantly, S.W. is an individual defendant was explicitly
ordered not to have direct communications.
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In attempt to justify his whereabouts, defendant submitted to Pretrial Services a note from
his dentist that stated he was at the dentist from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This note contains false
information. On May 7, 2014, the FBI case agent interviewed individuals at the dentist office.
See Ex. D. The dentist office is on the same floor as defendants office in Chicago, Illinois.
According to the dentist, defendant requested a note from the dentist that identified he was in his
office between approximately 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The dentist complied, although he knew
that defendant was present at the office for less than that time. The dentist office assistant stated
that defendant left the dentist office at approximately 12:45 p.m. The dentist also stated that
defendant Thomas stated on a number of occasions that a female may be waiting for him outside
in the waiting room, but no female arrived. According to Pretrial Services, defendants wife
provided this note from the dentist office to Pretrial Services, as purported verification for
defendants presence at the dentist office between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
At the last Court hearing, defendant was found in violation of his bond conditions with
his draft email scam, which was his attempt to evade and hide electronic communications from
the Court. Defendant has engaged in another scam on the Court and on Pretrial Services by
meeting with a witness he was forbidden from having contact with, engaging in a cover-up using
the false letter from the dental office, and using his mothers cellphone, which he clearly had
with him on May 7, 2014.
The Court has already given defendant the benefit of the doubt through its initial pretrial
release, and through allowing defendant to remain on bond after one violation. Defendant also
assured the Court at the last hearing that he would abide by the conditions of release. It is
apparent now that defendant is incapable of complying with the Courts orders, and shown
disrespect for the law.
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Moreover, defendant has expressed his intent to continue doing real estate deals even
though the Court has imposed conditions preventing transactions over $500. Indeed, defendant
has filed a motion to allow payment of funds using $100,000 from a recent closing, despite the
fact that the Court has indicated that the funds should remain in an attorney trust account so that
the money is not expended while the government investigates the transaction. See Docket #17.
Defendant also boasted in a text message to S. W. that he had a closing set for next week where
he was going to flip a property and make another $150,000. See Ex. C. In this text, defendant
boasts that he was making $250,000 three weeks after his arrest. Thus, the government
continues to have serious concerns about this defendant posing a financial danger to the
community.
Finally, defendant is attempting to influence a government witness by having contact
with her. The nature of the contact, including promises of buying S.W. a car and a house, asking
about contact with the government, and plans to blame another employee for the Riverdale fraud,
is an attempt to influence a witness he was ordered to stay away from.
The bond conditions form, in accordance with 18 U.S.C. 3142(h), advised defendant
that a violation of any condition of bond could result in revocation of release and detention. The
bond forms also advised defendant that it is a federal offense to tamper with a witness punishable
by up to ten years imprisonment. Defendant was also warned by the Court on April 28, 2014
after discovery of his draft email scam. Defendants counsel also raised explicitly raised the
issue about whether defendant could contact his former office assistant (S.W.) and the Court
stated that he could not. This was done in defendants presence. Despite all of these warnings,
defendant made direct contact with her through a ruse to bring her to his office.
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The evidence shows that defendant is intent on circumventing the Courts bond
conditions at all costs. Prior warnings from the Court have not worked, but only have increased
the scale of his violations. The government asks for revocation of the conditions of release and
detention for defendant Thomas.

Respectfully submitted,

ZACHARY T. FARDON
United States Attorney

By: /s/ Sunil R. Harjani
SUNIL R. HARJ ANI
Assistant United States Attorneys
219 South Dearborn Street, 5th Floor
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 353-5300
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