Roudell Kirkwood, the former alderman of Waukegan's 4th Ward, has pleaded guilty to three counts of forgery and one count of official misconduct, all Class 3 felonies. The 72-year-old restaurant owner will not serve jail time. Instead, he was handed 24 months of conditional discharge and a modest tab in fines, closing out a case that began with a stack of license paperwork in 2019.
According to the Lake McHenry Scanner, Kirkwood was sentenced to the conditional discharge with no jail time or community service, and he was ordered to pay $1,169 in fines and assessments. Prosecutors also dismissed 22 other counts against him, including 20 forgery counts, another official-misconduct count and theft by deception. FOX 32 Chicago reports that the information came from a Kane County State's Attorney's Office news release.
Three Applications, One Missing Disclosure
The four counts center on applications Kirkwood submitted in 2019 without disclosing that he was a public official. He became the alderman of Waukegan's 4th Ward in May 2019 and was also president of Mac Dynasty Inc., which operated several Lake County restaurants, the Scanner reports.
The paperwork trail ran through the summer and fall of that year. Kirkwood made a City of Waukegan liquor-license application on June 5, 2019, without identifying himself as a city public official. On July 19, he answered “N/A” on an Illinois Gaming Board video-gaming location disclosure application that required disclosure of public officials with a financial interest, and on October 24 he indicated he was not a public official on an Illinois Liquor Control Commission retailer application.
Per the same account, the official-misconduct count involved his failure to disclose his elected position on the video-gaming form while he was serving as alderman.
From 31 Counts to Four Guilty Pleas
A Lake County grand jury returned a 31-count indictment against Kirkwood on July 13, 2022. The Illinois State Police Statewide Gaming Command and the Illinois Gaming Board investigated the case. The Chicago Tribune noted that the probe into his business dealings began in 2019 after he submitted applications to the Illinois Gaming Board.
The case was handled outside Lake County. Kane County State's Attorney Jamie Mosser was appointed special prosecutor, with Assistant State's Attorney Robert Dore handling the prosecution. Shaw Local reported in 2022 that Mosser was requested because Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart had represented a Kirkwood family member before he was elected state's attorney.
Voters Moved On First
Waukegan voters had already weighed in before the plea. Kirkwood lost the Democratic nomination for his 4th Ward seat in the February 2023 primary, which the Tribune noted ensured the ward would get a new City Council representative.
For a case that once carried dozens of felony counts, the outcome is a quiet one: four convictions, no jail and a sentence that requires compliance with court-ordered conditions without probation supervision.
