A Peoria man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison on multiple fraud and other criminal charges for misleading several financial institutions and others about his business dealings.
Chad Campen, 34, was handed a 135-month incarceration term Friday by U.S. Central District Judge James Shadid on one count of bank fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of bankruptcy fraud and one count of false statements under oath.
Campen’s associate, Richard Weiss, 62, of Peoria, received a 15-month prison term on one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Some of the charges stem from Campen and Weiss receiving a $400,000 loan from the Village of Bartonville for the 2017 demolition of the 122-year-old Bowen Building.
“Part of the contract was they were supposed to pay us back with the sale of stone,” said Bartonville Mayor Leon Ricca. “They did what they said there and got the building down, but we never got any of our money back.”
Campen falsely claimed he had buyers in place to sell the limestone and other materials at a substantial profit, but instead the material was never sold and instead it was used as an “asset” that enabled him to fraudulently extend his credit with other financial institutions.
“We still have this open redevelopment agreement with them, but you can't take him into court while he's sitting in jail on federal charges,” Ricca said. “Now we'll probably get the circuit court to hold a hearing on this after so many days. We'll be able to close our TIF district then, so that we can distribute the remaining money to taxing bodies.”
Campen pled guilty to the charges in March, less than a month after Weiss had entered a guilty plea of his own.
Weiss admitted that he conspired to create fraudulent bank statements, tax returns and other documents that artificially inflated Campen’s wealth, showing accounts containing $200,000 more than the actual amount.
Prosecutors claimed Campen’s long-term scheme dates back to 2013, alleging he used false information about the amount of land he owned and his business deals to secure loans he then used to support his lifestyle.
They said he misrepresented his involvement in various fields, including selling farm equipment and solar farm development.
Both Campen and Weiss were given three-year terms of supervised release following their incarceration. Campen was ordered to pay $6.4 million in restitution, while Weiss must pay $4.4 million. Bartonville is owed slightly more than $380,000.
“We'll never get any money, and nobody will,” Ricca said. “But the sad thing is, there were some farmers that were hurt really bad with this.”
