Lewis Lacey (Tik Tok photo)

Dolton’s deputy police chief has been charged in connection with a scheme to conceal assets and income from creditors and prevent payment of a lawsuit settlement. 

Members of a federal grand jury on Monday returned a nine-count indictment against Lewis Lacey, 61, of Matteson. He was charged with bankruptcy fraud, making false statements and declarations in a bankruptcy case, and perjury.  Each count is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.  

His arraignment has not yet been scheduled.  

Lacey was indicted as part of an ongoing federal investigation. 

According to the indictment, since 1984, Lacey has filed seven personal bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including petitions in 2019 and 2020. The recent petitions automatically stayed enforcement of a settlement agreement Lacey had reached in 2017 with the plaintiff in a lawsuit. 

The indictment alleges that Lacey filed the 2019 bankruptcy petition shortly after the plaintiff moved to enforce the settlement agreement, accusing Lacey of still owing $43,000 of the $55,000 settlement. 

The indictment alleges that Lacey made several materially false and fraudulent representations in oral statements and documents submitted in the bankruptcy cases, including underreporting his monthly income and concealing bank accounts that he controlled.  Among other things, Lacey falsely represented that he was separated from his spouse and that she did not reside with him or contribute to his monthly income and mortgage, the indictment states.  

Investigators said Lacey had a Bank of America account and Chase accounts that he and his wife had access to that he did not disclose during bankruptcy proceedings. 

The false representations allowed Lacey to fraudulently calculate his monthly income for purposes of repayment of his creditors as substantially less than it should have been if his spouse’s contributions were included, according to the indictment. 

In Lacey’s bankruptcy case, he was seeking release from unsecured debts of $171,327, including $43,000 owed to the plaintiff as part of the settlement agreement. 

On one bankruptcy petition, Lacey claimed his net monthly income was $603 when the combined monthly income from he and his wife, who he was not separated from, was $4,573, the indictment indicates. 

He claimed his wife, who he said he was separated from, was living on Halsted Street in Chicago, when, in fact, she lived with him on White Oaks Road in Matteson, investigators said. 

During the alleged fraud scheme, Lacey served as a police officer for the Dolton Police Department. 

Lacey could not be reached for comment as of press time. 

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com