Former Chicago Public Schools employee admits his crime in federal court

Pedro Soto, a 45-year-old Chicago man, pleaded guilty in federal court for committing the crime of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during an investigation. Soto is a former employee of the Chicago Public Schools. Soto made false statements to the FBI when the agency was investigating a criminal case related to the awarding of a custodial services contract.

Soto admitted that he made false statements to the agency when he was asked about his interaction with the lobbyist and the colleague of the lobbyist. In 2016, the lobbyist and its colleague assisted a company that filed a bid to acquire the contract valued at $1 billion. Soto was a member of a CPS evaluation team at that time. His responsibility was to recommend a company to the Chicago Board of Education for the awarding of the contract.

Soto pleaded guilty for providing non-public information to the colleague of the lobbyist. The lobbyist’s colleague offered several benefits to Soto in return for the information. He also admitted that he made false statements to the FBI when he was asked about providing information to the lobbyist’s colleague.

According to the court documents, Soto entered a guilty plea agreement to one count of making false statements to an agency of the US. According to the US Sentencing Guidelines, Soto can face a sentence of up to 5 years in federal prison for committing this crime.

Soto will be presented in a status hearing on December 10, 2020, at 9:30 am. Sharon Johnson Coleman, a US District Judge, did not set a sentencing date for Soto yet. Emmerson Buie, Jr., the special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Division, and Jonn R. Lausch, Jr., the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced the guilty plea in the court. The Inspector General’s Office of the Chicago Board of Education assisted the investigators in the case. Matthew Kutcher and Michelle Kramer, the assistant US attorney, are representing the government in the case.