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To view links in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. Your post count is 0 momentarily. reports for the To view links in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. Your post count is 0 momentarily. that Phillip Radmer, a disbarred Berwyn attorney who created phony corporations and invented board members to steal the properties of poor churches, nonprofit groups and businesses, was sentenced on November 20th 2007 to 12 years in prison.

“Mr. Radmer has ruined a lot of people’s lives in this case,” Cook County Circuit Judge Stanley Sacks is reported to have said in imposing the sentence for theft and forgery.

Representatives of six churches told the judge that the scheme forced them to spend scarce resources to untangle the mess left behind by Radmer over who rightfully owned the properties. In a series of fraudulent real estate deals, Radmer created dozens of phony corporations and individuals in a plot to steal more than 60 vacant lots, a Tribune investigation found last year. He netted at least $655,000 from the sale of four properties owned by the First Presbyterian Church on the city’s South Side.

Assistant Cook County State’s Atty. William Merritt is reported to have called Radmer a “backward Robin Hood.” “He robbed from the poor to give to the rich — himself,” said Merritt, recalling testimony that authorities recovered $100,000 in a house raid. Merritt said Radmer’s scheme had “created havoc” in the manner in which property is sold in Cook County.

Pastors and church leaders said Tuesday they had to hire attorneys and go to court to straighten out their churches’ ownership of the vacant lots. Rev. Gerald Wise told the judge that First Presbyterian had spent “considerable” funds to pay lawyers.

Last week, the church announced it was closing its day-care program, in existence for 42 years, and laying off its 11 teachers because of funding problems.

The Tribune, citing records and interviews, reported last week that Radmer continued his wrongdoing even while in county jail awaiting trial. In September, he arranged the sale of one lot owned by Providence-St. Mel school without the school’s knowledge.

At Radmer’s sentencing, Paul Adams III, the president of the board of trustees of Providence-St. Mel, testified he didn’t know the lot had been sold until he read the Tribune account. Adams said the fraud impacted the school’s plans to use that lot for an expansion. “We’ve been trying to find out who was trying to steal the property, to be perfectly honest,” he told the judge.

Radmer didn’t address the court, but his attorney, Rufus Cook, said Radmer made “a tragic error” in trying to sell the lots. “Was it a dumb thing to do? It certainly was,” said Cook, who contended that Radmer had no criminal intent.


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