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| Government Corruption |
| Kass: Worst Crooked Judge in the World: Crook County Judge Patricia Martin |
| 2025-12-15 |
| [John Kass] Chicago has always been a corrupt town, perhaps worse than Mogadishu Minnesota. Same media and Democrats frightened by the slightest suggestion they might be blasted as racists by black demogoguges. But what happened to a 97-year-old Tuskegee Airman takes the grand prize. You’ve heard of the airmen. They were a highly decorated group of soldiers in World War II, they were heroes, some were escorts, protecting our American bombers from enemy fighter planes and others carried out bomb raids. One mistake was death for themselves and their friends. But thanks to the great CWB Chicago—the website that is all about bringing people the news rather than worrying about politically correct social justice scores—we know about Cook County Judge Patricia Martin. This is true. Judge Martin’s story does come to us from the one place Chicagoans understand: the Department of Special Places in Hell. Martin is the former judge convicted of swindling an elderly Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Wilkerson, of his life savings. He found out about it after Judge Martin—who had his power of attorney to look out for him and pay his nursing home bills—stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. She blew it on bitcoin. Mr. Wilkerson found out about it when the nursing home wasn’t receiving money to pay his bills. Martin once served as presiding judge of the Child Protection Division and retired in 2020 with a big fat pension that she sweetened, I assume, with extra contributions. My friend Jeanne Ives reports that Judge Martin’s pension was well over $200,000 a year. Like a thick rib-eye steak on the bone, full of fat and flavor. Prosecutors initially accused Martin of stealing nearly $250,000 from then-95-year-old Mr. Oscar Wilkerson, a longtime friend whose finances she controlled under power of attorney. Wilkerson’s wife had been a relative of Judge Martin. Using that authority, Martin closed some of Wilkerson’s bank accounts and withdrew more than $115,000, officials said. She used the money to buy crypto. CWB reports that investigators said she continued making unauthorized transactions for crypto purchases and personal expenses through 2021 and most of 2022. The thefts were uncovered after a senior living facility terminated Wilkerson’s residency because of unpaid bills. An attorney was brought in to examine his finances and filed a lawsuit against Martin in 2022. She failed to respond, resulting in a default judgment of about $1.1 million, according to court filings. Because Martin previously served as a Cook County judge, her case was assigned to McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis. Martin plead guilty. Wilkerson died in 2023, one day before his 97th birthday. Martin was disbarred the same year. But here’s the kicker, she didn’t spend any time in jail. Not one measly day. And she keeps that pension. Wilkerson, who died in February 2023 at the age of at 96, had been the last known surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen in the Chicago area. In 2007, he was among about 300 surviving members of the trailblazing all-Black aviation unit awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush. Martin has since been disbarred. As part of her probation, which runs through Dec. 3, 2029, she must report to the county’s Adult Probation Department, complete drug and alcohol evaluation and treatment, submit to random drug testing and comply with DNA indexing requirements. Also, she’s barred from leaving Illinois without court permission and cannot possess firearms or other weapons. What gets me is that this was an inside deal played by Judge Martin, an inside player. How do I know? She served no time in prison. Not one minute behind bars. And the pension remains fat. She was part of the judicial clique of boss Toni Preckwinkle, who is boss of the Cook County Democrats and the supreme judge picker. And Boss Toni has kept her mouth shut through all of this. She’s as silent as a lamb. But she’s no fool. She’s up for election on March 17. And she’s kept her lips zipped on this one. Will she be held accountable by voters? I don’t see it happening. The Chicago media won’t hold her to account. She’s emptied the Cook County Jail of violent repeat offenders because she doesn’t want black men in jail. And Chicago media hasn’t held her to account. You might think the media would focus on her, but Preckwinkle does the bidding of the Chicago media’s social justice warriors. She is on the hard left and so are they. The violent monster Lawrence Reed–who poured gasoline on innocent Bethany Magee and lit her on fire–was a beneficiary of Preckwinkle’s race based de-carceration policy. And still, Preckwinkle is constantly rewarded for her racial justice. |
| Posted by:Frank G |