A press release from the U.S. Attorney in Springfield:

BROTHER OF FORMER COUNTRY CLUB HILLS POLICE CHIEF SENTENCED FOR MONEY LAUNDERING, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. –Ricky McCoy, brother of Regina R. Evans, former police chief for Country Club Hills., Ill., was sentenced this afternoon for money laundering and obstructing justice in the federal investigation of a grant fraud scheme involving his sister and her husband. U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough ordered that McCoy serve six months in federal prison, followed by six months of home confinement.

McCoy was allowed to remain on bond and self-report to the federal Bureau of Prisons on a date to be determined by BOP. McCoy was also ordered to remain on supervised release for three years following his release from the six-month prison term.

McCoy was ordered to pay restitution, joint and severally, with his sister and her husband, Ronald Evans, in the amount of $44,338, to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

McCoy entered pleas of guilty on Aug. 29, 2013, to money laundering and obstruction of justice. Regina Evans previously entered pleas of guilty to charges filed in two cases.

On Aug. 19, 2013, Evans pled guilty to obstruction of justice, witness tampering and conspiracy to obstruct justice and witness tampering.

Evans pled guilty on June 17, 2013, to charges of fraud related to a $1.25 million state grant awarded in 2009 to We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, a not-for-profit program that Evans owned with her husband, Ronald W. Evans, Jr. Ronald Evans has pled guilty to the fraud scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, 2014.

On May 1, 2014, Regina Evans was sentenced in the two cases. U.S. District Judge Myerscough ordered Evans to serve five years in federal prison and to pay restitution, jointly and severally with her husband, Ronald Evans, in the amount of $917,194, to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

McCoy assisted the Evanses in the management of We Are Our Brother’s Keeper. McCoy pled guilty to money laundering related to the grant funds when he issued a check payable to himself, in the amount of $16,249, on behalf of We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, with the proceeds of the check deposited to an account controlled by the Evanses.

Further, McCoy issued two additional checks, totaling $19,888, on behalf of We Are Our Brother’s Keeper, made payable to an associate of the Evanses; $17,888 of the check proceeds were deposited to a bank account controlled by the Evanses.

McCoy pled guilty to participating with his sister and others to have an unidentified person create a false story for law enforcement, the grand jury, and as a witness in a court proceeding, to falsely represent that the individual performed actual work under the grant awarded to We Are Our Brother’s Keeper. In fact, the individual performed no such work and the checks issued to the individual were merely a means to conceal grant funds converted to cash and returned to the benefit of the Evanses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass is prosecuting the case on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois. The ongoing investigation is being conducted by participating agencies of the Central District of Illinois’ U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Public Corruption Task Force including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Chicago Division; the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations; and, the Illinois Secretary of State Office of Inspector General. Individuals who wish to provide information to law enforcement regarding matters of public corruption are urged to call the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 217-492-4450.