The man who served as bagman for former McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski's bribery scheme will not go to prison. Simo “Sam” Krneta, a 68-year-old former La Grange Park contractor who now lives in Albany, New York, was sentenced to five years of probation rather than time behind bars for his role funneling illegal payments in exchange for village contracts.
U.S. District Judge April Perry handed down the sentence after Krneta pleaded guilty in February to a single count of filing a false tax return for 2017, according to Chicago Tribune. Federal sentencing guidelines called for 10 to 16 months in prison for that conviction, but federal rules also made Krneta eligible for probation, per Capitol Fax. Judge Perry cited Krneta's serious health issues, which she said would make it difficult for the Bureau of Prisons to manage his care, and noted that he had turned his life around in the seven years since the case first began.
A Bagman's Role in the McCook Scheme
Krneta acted as bagman for Tobolski, paying bribes and helping steer illicit payments in exchange for lucrative contracts with the village, according to the Tribune's report. His firm, Renovation Associates, had contributed $13,425 to Tobolski's campaign committee back in 2017 while seeking and securing that village work, according to the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark. The tax charge against Krneta stemmed from failing to report the bribe income and kickbacks tied to those municipal contracts, per Capitol Fax's account.
The federal probe into McCook's government became public in September 2019, when FBI agents executed search warrants at Tobolski's home and his village hall office, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. That pressure forced Tobolski's resignation in March 2020. He later pleaded guilty in September of that year and wore a wire to cooperate extensively with federal agents, helping prosecutors build cases against several associates, according to the Desplaines Valley News.
The Ringleader's Fate
Tobolski himself was sentenced in four years for corruption on August 11, 2025, after pleading guilty to extortion, conspiracy, and tax fraud involving more than $250,000 in illegal payments, according to Illinois Policy. He never reported to serve that sentence. Tobolski died at age 61 on November 9, 2025, following a short illness involving heart and lung complications, just two months before his scheduled January 2026 reporting date, according to CBS News.
Other officials in Tobolski's orbit received active prison time. Former McCook Police Chief Mario DePasquale was sentenced in February 2024 to 27 months in federal prison for conspiring with Tobolski to extort local business owners out of more than $85,000 in bribes, CBS News reported at the time. DePasquale admitted to personally collecting cash bribes from restaurant operators in exchange for municipal liquor permits.
McCook's Small-Town, High-Stakes Government
McCook is a tiny industrial suburb in west Cook County with a residential population under 300 people, yet it hosts major regional facilities including Vulcan Materials' quarry and Electro-Motive Diesel, according to Wikipedia. That imbalance between a minuscule electorate and substantial municipal revenue concentrated executive power over commercial operations in the mayor's office for years, a dynamic that fueled Tobolski's extortion scheme.
Following Tobolski's 2025 sentencing, current McCook Mayor Terrance Carr publicly declared that the village had righted itself from the scandal and that businesses no longer needed to pay bribes to operate in town, according to the Desplaines Valley News. Carr took over as mayor in April 2020 after Tobolski's resignation and pledged administrative reform. With Krneta's probation sentence, the roughly seven-year federal investigation into McCook's municipal government appears to have run its course.
