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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■
Vol. 31 No.39
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Chance the Rapper gifts Austin school,
October 11, 2017
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
PAGE 9
@AustinWeeklyChi
@AustinWeeklyNews
Meet Pastor Dave McGinley, page 3
Austin pastor gets 3 years for fraud Wilkerson, with wife and co-defendants, sentenced for stealing $450K from summer program By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
A pastor who founded a church in Austin was recently sentenced to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution after he was found guilty of defrauding a federal summer food program out of roughly $450,000. In May, Rev. Robbie Wilkerson, 50, along with his wife, Tasha Wilkerson, 45, both of Oak Park, and three associates — Anthony Hall, 55; Richard Shumate, 52; and Evelyn Shumate, 49 — all pled guilty to various charges. Wilkerson, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay nearly $441,000 in restitution. His wife, Tasha, who pled guilty to theft of government funds, was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay roughly $40,000 in restitution. Wilkerson is the founding pastor of New Birth Christian Center in Austin. According to the 2015 indictment, Wilkerson filed paperwork in 2010 for New Birth to administer the Summer Food Service Program, See WILKERSON on page 6
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
UP IN FLAMES
On Oct. 5, 2017, Cicero firefighters attempt to get inside of a building on the 5900 block of Roosevelt Rd., after an Oct. 4 fire that started in an adjacent building spread next door. The building was set to be demolished as of last week.
Proposed apartments in Galewood spark debate Some say an 80-unit, 3-building luxury apartment complex is the wrong kind of development for the area By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Dozens of Galewood residents packed Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s (29th) ward office on Oct. 3 to express their opposition to the proposed redevelopment three lots at 6600-6700
W. North Avenue, with many complaining that they felt like they were being kept in the dark about the project. Noah Properties, a developer based in Albany Park, is looking to build an 80-unit, three-building luxury apartment complex that would be made up of two-bedroom
units, most of which would be leased for $1,800 a month — 10 percent of which would be affordable. While original plans called for one parking spot per unit, the developer subsequentSee GALEWOOD PROPOSAL on page 6
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com